Lady Wynde sat down beside her step-daughter. Artress retreated to a recessed window, and took up her usual embroidery. Neva exerted herself to converse with her step-mother, and was soon conscious of a feeling of disappointment in her. She felt that Lady Wynde was insincere, a hypocrite, and a double-dealer, and she experienced a sense of uneasiness in her presence. Could this be the wife her father had adored? she asked herself. And then she accused herself of injustice and harsh judgment, believing that her father could not have been so mistaken in the character of his wife, and in atonement for her unfavorable opinion she was very gentle, and full of deference. Lady Wynde congratulated herself upon having won her step-daughter’s good opinion after all. “I must acquire a thorough control and unbounded influence over her,” she thought. “But how can I do it? If her father had only left her stronger injunctions to sacrifice everything to my wishes, I think she would obey the injunctions as if a voice spoke to her from the grave. She will obey in all things reasonable--I can see that. But if she has formed a liking for Lord Towyn, how am I to compel her to marry Rufus Black?” The question occupied her attention even while she talked with Neva. It made her thoughtful through the dinner hour, and silent afterward. Neva was tired, and went to her own rooms for the night soon after dinner, and Lady Wynde and Artress talked together for a long time in low tones. “I have it!” said her ladyship exultantly, at last. “I have a brilliant idea, Artress, that will make this girl my bond-slave. But I shall need the cooperation of Craven. I must see him this very evening. It is strange he does not come--” “He is here,” said the gray companion, as the house door clanged and heavily shut. “I will go to my room.” She slipped like a shadow down the long triple drawing-room and out at one door, as the Honorable Craven Black was ushered in at the other. Lady Wynde rose to receive him, welcoming him with smiles, and presently she unfolded to him the scheme she had just conceived, and the two conspirators proceeded to discuss it and amplify it, and prepare it for the ensnarement of the baronet’s daughter. CHAPTER XI. LADY WYNDE’S IDEA ACTED UPON. It was still early upon the evening of Neva’s return to Hawkhurst when Craven Black took his leave of the handsome widow and set out upon his walk to Wyndham. The summer night was filled with a light, pleasant gloom; and the songs of the nightingales, the chirping and drumming of insects in the Hawkhurst park and plantations, made the air musical. But Craven Black gave no heed to these things as he strode along over the hilly road. His mind was busy with the scheme that had been suggested to him that evening by Lady Wynde, and as he hurried along, he muttered: