Mma Ramotswe agreed that this was the way that people sometimes behaved, and further agreed with Mma Potokwane when she went on to say that people never really changed. It was almost impossible to get a busy man to do less; that was not the way they were made.

“Are you worried about him?” asked Mma Potokwane bluntly. “After that illness he had, maybe you should watch him. Didn’t Dr Moffat say that he should not work too hard?”

“He did,” said Mma Ramotswe. “But then when Mr J.L.B. Matekoni was told this, he said: ‘And what about Dr Moffat himself? He is the hardest worker of them all. I have seen him. He is always rushing off to the hospital and looking after people. If he thinks that I should not work so hard, why is he working so hard himself?’ That is what he said, Mma, and I found it difficult to answer that.”

Mma Potokwane snorted. “That is no answer,” she said. “Doctors are allowed to tell us things which they might not do themselves. They know what the right thing is, but they may not be able to do it themselves. That does not mean that their advice is bad advice.”

This was an interesting observation, and Mma Ramotswe thought carefully about it before she replied.

“I must think about what you have said, Mma,” she said. “Should we really go around telling other people what not to do?”

The question was asked and hung heavily in the air while the tea tray was brought in and laid on Mma Potokwane’s desk. Mma Ramotswe looked discreetly at its contents; yes, there was cake—two large slices of fruit cake of the sort that she always hoped for when she visited the orphan farm. The absence of cake from the tray could have meant that she was for some reason in disfavour or disgrace; but fortunately that was not the case today.

Mma Potokwane reached forward and placed the larger slice of cake on her friend’s plate. Then she placed the other piece on her own plate and began to pour the tea.

“The question you have asked is a very important one, Mma,” she pronounced, picking up her slice of cake and taking a bite. “I must think about it. Maybe there are people who would say that I eat too much cake.”

“But you do not eat too much, do you?” observed Mma Ramotswe.

Mma Potokwane’s response came quickly. “No, I do not. I do not eat too much cake.” She paused, and looked wistfully at her now emptying plate. “Sometimes I would like to eat too much cake. That is certainly true. Sometimes I am tempted.”

Mma Ramotswe sighed. “We are all tempted, Mma. We are all tempted when it comes to cake.”

“That is true,” said Mma Potokwane sadly. “There are many temptations in this life, but cake is probably one of the biggest of them.”