“It must be useful to have hearing like that,” said Mma Makutsi. “We must talk about it more some day. But in the meantime, you might wish to tell me what this man said to Mma Ramotswe.”

Mr Polopetsi looked Mma Makutsi straight in the eye. “I would not normally tell somebody about Mma Ramotswe’s business,” he pronounced. “But this is different. I was going to tell you anyway—later on.”

“Well?” said Mma Makutsi.

Mr Polopetsi lowered his voice. The apprentice was standing beside the car on which they had been working and was looking at them intently.

“He asked her for money,” he whispered. “He asked her for ten thousand pula. Yes, ten thousand!”

“And?”

“And he said that if she didn’t pay, then he was going to go to the police and tell them that she is still married to him and that she should not have married Mr J.L.B. Matekoni.” He stopped, watching the effect of his words.

For a few moments Mma Makutsi did nothing. Then she reached forward and placed a finger across her lips.

“You must never mention this to anybody,” she said. “You must promise me that.”

He nodded gravely. “Of course I shall not.”

Mma Makutsi turned away and went back into her office, her heart cold within her. You are my mother and my sister, she thought. You gave me my job. You helped me. You held my hand and wept with me when my brother became late. You are the one who made me feel that it was possible for a person from Bobonong to do well and to hold her head up in anybody’s company. And now this man is threatening to bring shame upon you. I cannot allow that. I cannot.

She stopped. Mr Polopetsi had been watching her silently, but now he called out. “Mma! Do not worry. I will do something to stop that man. Mma Ramotswe is the woman who gave me a job. She is the one who knocked me down—but then she picked me up again. I will deal with that man.”

Mma Makutsi turned round and looked at Mr Polopetsi. It was kind of him to say that, and she was touched by his loyalty. But what could a man like that do? Not very much, she feared.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MMA RAMOTSWE AND MR J.L.B. MATEKONI HAVE DINNER IN THEIR HOUSE ON ZEBRA DRIVE