The Tysons (Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson) - Page 109/109

Later on news came of that heroic stand made by Tyson and his men--a mere

handful against hundreds of the enemy. He had led them in their last mad

rush on a line of naked steel; he had fallen first, face downwards,

pierced through the back and breast. He died fighting.

Even in Drayton Parva, where all things are remembered, his sins are

forgotten. Nay, more, they forbear to speak of his wife's sins out of

respect for the memory of a brave man.

In Drayton Parish Church there is a stained glass window with a figure of

St. Michael; he has a drawn sword in his hand and the flames of hell are

about his feet. That window is dedicated TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE MEMORY OF NEVILL TYSON.

So they remember.

And out there, in the great Soudan, there is a wooden cross that mounts

guard over a long mound. Already it is buried up to its arms in the

shifting sand; by to-morrow the dead and their place will be one with the

eternal desert. And the desert remembers nothing, neither glory nor sin.