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loves him dearly, the boy being the only one of his chil- dren in whom he may hope, with God's help, to have comfort, and who, a hundred years hence, shall take over from him the office of Eav in Saken. The elder son is rich, but he is a usurer, and his riches give the Kav no satisfaction whatever. He had had one daughter, but she died, leaving some little orphans. Sholem is, there- fore, the only one left him. He has a good head, and is quick at his studies, a quiet, well-behaved boy, a little obstinate, a bit opinionated, but that is no harm in a boy, thinks the old man. True, too, that last week people told him tales. Sholem, they said, read heret- ical books, and had been seen carrying "burdens" on Sabbath. But this the father does not believe, he will not and cannot believe it. Besides, Sholem is certain to have made amends. If a Talmid-Chochom commit a sin by day, it should be forgotten by nightfall, because a Talmid-Chochom makes amends, it says so in the Gemoreh.
However, the Eav is ashamed to give his own exe- gesis of the Law before his son, and he knows perfectly well that nothing will induce Sholem to drive with him to the Eebbe.
But the stranger and his brandy-drinking have so upset him that he now looks at his son in a piteous sort of way. "Hear me out, Sholem, what harm can it do you?" says his look.
Sholem draws himself up, and pulls in his chair, supports his head with both his hands, and gazes into his father's eyes out of filial duty. He loves his father, but in his heart he wonders at him; it seems to him
