Read "The Aspirations of Jean Servien" by Anatole France online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
One evening in summer the bookbinder was enjoying the fresh air before his door when a big man with a red nose, past middle age and wearing a scarlet waistcoat stained with grease-spots, appeared, bowing politely and confidentially, and addressed him in a sing-song voice in which even Monsieur Servien could detect an Italian accent:
"Sir, I have translated the "Gerusalemme Liberata", the immortal masterpiece of Torquato Tasso" -- and a bulging packet of manuscript under his arm confirmed the statement.