Mma Mateleke nodded. She was looking out of the window on her side. “There is always something happening,” she said. “People forget that he is part-time, and that he has a business to run as well. They get married and die and do all these things that need reverends. And he has to think about what he is going to say in his sermons on the radio. That is very hard work, of course, because you cannot go on the radio and say any old thing, can you?”

He shook his head. “That is very true. You cannot say the first thing in your mind when you know that the whole country is listening.”

“If it’s listening,” said Mma Mateleke. “I think there are many people who turn off the radio when my husband’s programme comes on.”

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni frowned. This was a strange thing for a wife to say; surely if one’s spouse was on the radio one should be a bit more loyal in one’s remarks. It was a very odd remark, but he decided to make light of it. “Those will be the bad people,” he said. “Bad people do not like to listen to reverends on the radio. They make them feel guilty. So all the bad people turn off at the same time-click, click, click.”

He looked at her sideways, expecting her to laugh, or at least smile, at his observation. But she did not. She was looking out of the window again, and he was not sure that she had heard him.

“It is his birthday next week,” she said suddenly. “I shall make him a very special cake. He is turning forty, you see, and I am planning a special party for him.”

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni felt relieved. That settled that, he thought. If Mma Mateleke were having an affair, then she would hardly be talking about making a special effort for her husband’s birthday. This was not the way a woman in that situation behaved. He felt guilty about his suspicions; if everybody who saw a married woman talking to a strange man were to draw the conclusion that there was something going on, then ordinary life would become quite impossible.