Code Name Hélène

by Ariel Lawhon

The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only. —VICTOR HUGO, LES MISÉRABLES

I do not believe in “instalove” (real love is more action than feeling, in my opinion) but I do believe in instant attraction. I once heard that men see and they want, but women grow into desire. Regardless, as Nancy tells the story in her autobiography, The White Mouse, there was a great deal of power in the first glance that she shared with her husband. He wanted immediately. Nancy on the other hand had to be convinced.