Gallegher stopped and straightened himself as though about to tell with proper dramatic effect the story of the night’s adventure, and then, as though the awe of it still hung upon him, backed slowly to the door, and said, confusedly, “No, sir; he was—­he didn’t need it.”

AN UNFINISHED STORY

Mrs. Trevelyan, as she took her seat, shot a quick glance down the length of her table and at the arrangement of her guests, and tried to learn if her lord and master approved.  But he was listening to something Lady Arbuthnot, who sat on his right, was saying, and, being a man, failed to catch her meaning, and only smiled unconcernedly and cheerfully back at her.  But the wife of the Austrian Minister, who was her very dearest friend, saw and appreciated, and gave her a quick little smile over her fan, which said that the table was perfect, the people most interesting, and that she could possess her soul in peace.  So Mrs. Trevelyan pulled at the tips of her gloves and smiled upon her guests.  Mrs. Trevelyan was not used to questioning her powers, but this dinner had been almost impromptu, and she had been in doubt.  It was quite unnecessary, for her dinner carried with it the added virtue of being the last of the season, an encore to all that had gone before—­a special number by request on the social programme.  It was not one of many others stretching on for weeks, for the summer’s change and leisure began on the morrow, and there was nothing hanging over her guests that they must go on to later.  They knew that their luggage stood ready locked and strapped at home; they could look before them to the whole summer’s pleasure, and they were relaxed and ready to be pleased, and broke simultaneously into a low murmur of talk and laughter.  The windows of the dining-room stood open from the floor, and from the tiny garden that surrounded the house, even in the great mass of stucco and brick of encircling London, came the odor of flowers and of fresh turf.  A soft summer-night wind moved the candles under their red shades; and gently as though they rose from afar, and not only from across the top of the high wall before the house, came the rumble of the omnibuses passing farther into the suburbs, and the occasional quick rush of a hansom over the smooth asphalt.  It was a most delightful choice of people, gathered at short notice and to do honor to no one in particular, but to give each a chance to say good-by before he or she met the yacht at Southampton or took the club train to Homburg.  They all knew each other very well; and if there was a guest of the evening, it was one of the two Americans—­either Miss Egerton, the girl who was to marry Lord Arbuthnot, whose mother sat on Trevelyan’s right, or young Gordon, the explorer, who has just come out of Africa.  Miss Egerton was a most strikingly beautiful girl, with a strong, fine face, and an earnest, interested way when she spoke, which the English found most attractive.