Read "Helen of Troy; and Rose" by Phyllis Bottome online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
They sat on a terrace overlooking the most beautiful view in the world. They did not look at it, nor did they look at each other. They were beautifully dressed, they lived in the same world and spoke the same tongue; they would have laughed at, if they would not have made, the same jokes. The materials for happiness were heaped before them; but neither of them stretched out a hand to take them. They were both like creatures under an invisible ban.
It could not be said that Léon had any cause for a grievance. Madame Gérard had given him what she had offered him, but he had fatally under-estimated how far this gift would fall short of what he wanted.