E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team THE TYSONS (Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson) by MAY SINCLAIR Author of _THE DIVINE FIRE_, _THE HELPMATE_, etc. 1906 CONTENTS CHAPTER I. MR. NEVILL TYSON II. MRS. NEVILL TYSON III. MR. AND MRS. NEVILL TYSON AT HOME IV. THE FIRST STONE V. THE NIGHT WATCH VI. A SON AND HEIR VII. SIR PETER'S NEW CLOTHES VIII. TOWARDS "THE CROSS-ROADS" IX. AN UNNATURAL MOTHER X. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE XI. THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS XII. A FLAT IN TOWN XIII. MRS. WILCOX TO THE RESCUE XIV. THE "CRITERION" XV. CONFLAGRATION XVI. THE NEW LIFE XVII. THE CAPTAIN OF HIS SOUL XVIII. A MIRACLE XIX. CONFESSIONAL XX. A MAN AND A SPHINX XXI. OUT OF THE NIGHT XXII. IN THE DESERT XXIII. _IN MEMORIAM_ CHAPTER I MR. NEVILL TYSON There were only two or three houses in Drayton Parva where Mr. and Mrs. Nevill Tyson were received. A thrill of guilty expectation used to go through the room when they were announced, and people watched them with a fearful interest, as if they were the actors in some enthralling but forbidden drama. Perhaps, if she had been tried by a jury of her peers--but Mrs. Nevill Tyson had no peers in Drayton Parva. She was tried by an invisible and incorruptible jury of ideas in Miss Batchelor's head. Opinion sways all things in Drayton Parva, and Miss Batchelor swayed opinion. As for Mr. Nevill Tyson, he had dropped into Leicestershire from heaven knows where, and was understood to be more or less on his trial. Nobody knew anything about him, except that he was a nephew of old Tyson of Thorneytoft, and had come in for the property. Nobody cared much for old Tyson of Thorneytoft; he was not exactly--well, no matter, he was very respectable and he was dead, which entitled him to a little consideration. And as Mr. Nevill Tyson was an unmarried man in those days he naturally attracted some attention on his own account, as well as for the sake of the very respectable old man, his uncle.