


Kumalo chastises Gertrude for her behavior and for not considering her young son, and tells her brother that John Kumalo will know where his son, Absalom, lives in Johannesburg. The two men visit Gertrude in the Claremont district of Johannesburg. Msimangu also tells Kumalo that Kumalo's brother John is no longer a carpenter, and now works as a politician. Msimangu tells Kumalo that Gertrude's husband has not returned from the mines where he was recruited to work, and now Gertrude has "many husbands" and was sent to jail for making bootlegged liquor and working as a prostitute. Kumalo finally arrives at the Mission House, where Msimangu arranges for him to stay in the house of Mrs. When Kumalo reaches Johannesburg, he waits in line for a bus and is tricked by a young man whom Kumalo gives money to buy a ticket for him. When a friend of Stephen Kumalo takes him to the train station to Johannesburg, he requests that Kumalo give a letter to the daughter of Sibeko, who now works for the Smith family in Johannesburg.

Absalom had gone to Johannesburg himself, and has not been heard from since. In order to undertake the journey, Kumalo must use the money intended to be used to send his son, Absalom, to St. Stephen Kumalo, the pastor at the village of Ndotsheni in the Ixopo region of South Africa, receives a letter from the Reverend Theophilus Msimangu that requests that he go to Johannesburg to rescue his sister, Gertrude, who is very ill.
