Read "His Excellency" by Émile Zola online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
One morning in March, Rougon sat in his room at the Ministry of the Interior, drawing up a confidential circular which was to be received by the prefects on the following day. He kept stopping, and puffing, and dashing his pen into the paper. 'Jules, give me a synonym for authority,' he said. 'This language of ours is horrid. I keep putting authority in every line.'
'Well, there's power, government, empire,' the young man answered with a smile.