Dumas, Alexandre. Le Chevalier D’Harmental (Boston: Little, Brown, 1893) 526 p.

The young Jean Buvat though quite stupid possesses extraordinary penmanship skills. Through a friend’s influence he procures a place in the manuscript department of the royal library. He works loyally and diligently even when the pay clerk tells him month after month that there is no money in the royal treasury. Still he works for five years without salary.

This work consisted, as usual, in classifying and labeling books. A fire having broken out a few days previously in one of the halls of the library, three or four thousand volumes had been carried out of reach of the flames, and thrown down promiscuously on the floor, and were now to be restored to their proper places. As it was a particularly tedious business, Buvat had been selected for it, and had hitherto acquitted himself with an intelligence and assiduity which had gained for him the commendations of his superiors, and the raillery of his colleagues. (p. 362).