And Yaakov also gave me paternal advice.
"Of course, if you were a year or two older, I should give you different advice, but at your age, it is better for you to keep yourself to yourself. However, you must do as you like."
"Shut up!" said I. "The whole thing is disgusting."
"Of course it is."
But almost immediately after this, trying to make the limp hair on his head stand up with his fingers, he said tersely, in well-rounded periods:
"Well, one must look at it from her point of view, too. She has a miserable, comfortless job. Even a dog likes to be stroked, and how much more a human being. A female lives by caresses, as a mushroom by moisture. She ought to be ashamed of herself, but what is she to do?"
I asked, looking intently into his elusive eyes:
"Do you begrudge her that, then?"
"What is she to me? Is she my mother? And if she were——But you are a funny fellow!"
He laughed in a low voice, like the beating of a drum.