"Ada expresses my feelings exactly," she said.
"I'm sure that some," went on Mrs. Tenssen, "would say that it's strange, if not familiar, asking a man to take tea with one when one doesn't even know his name, and his entrance into one's family was so peculiar; but what I always say is that life's short and there's no time to waste."
"My name's Henry Trenchard," said Henry, blushing.
"I had a friend once" (Mrs. Tenssen always used the word "friend" with a weight and seriousness that gave it a very especial importance), "a Mr. William Trenchard. He came from Beckenham. You remember him, Ruby?"
"I do," said Mrs. Armstrong. "And how good you were to him too! No one will ever know but myself how truly good you were to that man, Ada. Your kind heart led you astray there, as it has done often enough before."
Mrs. Tenssen nodded her head reminiscently. "He wasn't all he should have been," she said. "But there, one can't go on regretting all the actions of the past, or where would one be?"
She regarded Henry appreciatively. "He's a nice boy," she said to Mrs. Armstrong. "I like his face. I'm a terrible woman for first impressions, and deceived though I've been, I still believe in them."
"He's got kind eyes," said Mrs. Armstrong, blowing on her tea to cool it.
"Yes, they're what I'd call thinking eyes. I should say he's clever."
"Yes, he looks clever," said Mrs. Armstrong.