He was so powerful, in such favour with the people who 'really counted,' that he made it possible for us to transgress laws which Françoise had taught me to regard as more ineluctable than the laws of life and death, as when we were allowed to postpone for a year the compulsory repainting of the walls of our house, alone among all the houses in that part of Paris, or when he obtained permission from the Minister for Mme. Sazerat's son, who had been ordered to some watering-place, to take his degree two months before the proper time, among the candidates whose surnames began with 'A,' instead of having to wait his turn as an 'S.' If I had fallen seriously ill, if I had been captured by brigands, convinced that my father's understanding with the supreme powers was too complete, that his letters of introduction to the Almighty were too irresistible for my illness or captivity to turn out anything but vain illusions, in which there was no danger actually threatening me, I should have awaited with perfect composure the inevitable hour of my return to comfortable realities, of my deliverance from bondage or restoration to health.
Hain baitzen ahaltsua, herriko jendearen alde hain saiatua non, behin baino gehiagotan, urrarazi ere egiten baitzizkigun Françoisek bizitzarena eta heriotzarena baino ezinbestekoagotzat kontsideratzen irakatsiak zizkidàn zenbait lege, eta hala, adibidez, urtebetez atzerarazten zituen gure etxean-gure etxean bakarrik, auzo osoan-egin beharreko "entokatze"-lanak, edota ministroarengandik baimena lortzen Sazerat andrearentzat, honek bainuetxera joan nahi zuelako, beronen semeak batxilergo-froga bi hilabete lehenago egin zezan, abizena "A"z hasten zaien ikasleen sailean, "S"aren txandari itxaron beharrean. Larriki gaixotu izan banintz ere, edo ohoinek bahitu izan banindute ere, hain nengoen erabat sinetsita ezen aitak behar beste eta are sobera ere abeniko bazuela ahalmen gorenekin, Jainko Onaren aurrerako hainbat gomendiozko karta bazituela, ugari bezain eraginkor, gaixotasuna edo gatibutasuna arrisku gabeko pasadizo huts besterik gerta ez zekizkidan, non lasai asko itxarongo bainukeen errealitate lasairako itzulera-ordua, askatzearena nahiz sendatzearena;