Table of Contents

CHAPTER 27

The point of view shifts back to Mrs. Lithebe. She scolds Gertrude again, for seeing her former kind of companions, and tells her to leave Absalom's girl alone. A neighbor brings a newspaper with a headline about another white man killed by a black housebreaker, and Mrs. Lithebe and Msimangu worry that the event will affect Absalom's case. To keep Kumalo away from Mission House newspapers, Mrs. Lithebe invites Msimangu and Kumalo to eat with her and the young women that evening. After the meal they all attend a church meeting at which a black woman speaks about becoming a nun. Home again, Gertrude says that maybe becoming a nun would control her sexual desire, and that her brother's wife could then raise her child. Mrs. Lithebe is happy Gertrude has even had such a thought, but suggests she think about it further.

On impulse, though, Gertrude tells the girl and receives from her two promises: to care for her son and to speak carelessly no longer.

Table of Contents