“But you have to find a man to train,” said Mma Seeonyana. “And they just run away if you try to tell them what to do. I have had three men run away from me. They said that I talked too much and that they had no peace. But that is not true.”

Mma Ramotswe clicked her tongue in sympathy. “No, Mma, it cannot be true. But sometimes men seem not to like us to talk to them. They think they have already heard what we have to say.”

Mma Seeonyana sighed. “They are very foolish.”

“Yes,” said Mma Ramotswe. Some men were foolish, she thought, but by no means all. And there were some very foolish women too, if one thought about it.

“Even teachers,” said Mma Seeonyana. “Even teachers can be foolish sometimes.”

Mma Ramotswe looked up sharply. “You must have known many teachers, Mma,” she said. “When you were working in that place you must have known all the teachers.”

“Oh I did,” said Mma Seeonyana. “I knew many teachers. I saw them come as junior teachers and I saw them get promotion and become senior teachers. I saw all that happening. And I saw some very bad teachers too.”

Mma Ramotswe affected surprise. “Bad teachers, Mma? Surely not.”

“Oh yes,” said Mma Seeonyana. “I was astonished over what I found out. But I suppose teachers are the same as anybody else and they can be bad sometimes.”

Mma Ramotswe looked down at the ground. “Who were these bad teachers?” she asked. “And why were they bad?”

Mma Seeonyana shook her head. “They came and went,” she said. “I do not remember all their names. But I do remember a man who came to the school for six months and then the police took him away. They said he had done a very bad thing, but they never told us what it was.”

Mma Ramotswe shook her head. “That must have been very bad.” She paused, and then, “The good teachers must have been ashamed. Teachers like Mr Bobologo, for example. He’s a good teacher, isn’t he?”

She had not expected the reply, which was a peal of laughter. “Oh that one! Yes, Mma. He’s very good all right.”

Mma Ramotswe waited for something more to be said, but Mma Seeonyana merely smiled, as if she were recalling some private, amusing memory. She would have to winkle this out without giving the impression of being too interested. “Oh,” she said. “So he’s a ladies’ man, is he? I might have suspected it. There are so many ladies’ men these days. I am surprised that there are any ordinary husbands left at all.”

This brought forth another burst of laughter from Mma Seeonyana, who wiped at her eyes with the cuff of her blouse. “A ladies’ man, Mma? Yes, I suppose you could say that! A ladies’ man! Yes. Mr Bobologo would be very pleased to hear that, Mma.”