But all I said was: "By the Heavens above I am sorry for you, Saduko! How many enemies you must have made! What a long way there will be for you to fall one night!"-- a remark at which the quiet Nandie broke into a low laugh that I think pleased her husband even less than my sarcasm.

"Well," I went on, "I see that you have got a baby, which is much better than all these titles.

May I look at it, Inkosazana ?" Of course she was delighted, and we proceeded to inspect the baby, which evidently she loved more than anything on earth.

Whilst we were examining the child and chatting about it, Saduko sitting by meanwhile in the sulks, who on earth should appear but Mameena and her fat and sullen-looking husband, the chief Masapo.
"Oh, Macumazahn," she said, appearing to notice no one else, "how pleased I am to see you after a whole long year!" I stared at her and my jaw dropped.

Then I recovered myself, thinking she must have made a mistake and meant to say "week." "Twelve moons," she went on, "and, Macumazahn, not one of them has gone by but I have thought of you several times and wondered if we should ever meet again.