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Putumelo was not perhaps the most charming of men, but did one necessarily want a charming builder What one needed of a builder was an understanding of technical mattersit was clear that Mr. Putumelo had that. One expected, too, a sense of organisation and logistical skilland it was equally clear from his orderly yard that Mr. Putumelo was endowed with these qualities. If he was also arrogant and dismissive of women, then these failings were to be regretted, but did not necessarily affect his ability as a builder. Or so Phuti told himself as he left the premises of the This Way Up Building Company, although he somehow felt guilty about this concession. It was as if he had failed in some way to stand up for his wife, as if he had been cowardly. Perhaps I am a coward, perhaps that is what I am. The bitter thought brought back something that had not troubled him for many monthshis stammer. C c c coward, he muttered in unhappy selfreproach. F f frightened of a b b builder. You should be a a ashamed of yourself, Ph ph ph uti R r r r adiphuti. CHAPTER EIGHT MMA RAMOTSWE DRIVES CLOVIS ANDERSEN TO MOCHUDI, AND THINKS MR. CLOVIS ANDERSEN, author of The Principles of Private Detection, the great work of detection theory that had guided the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency since that momentous day on which it had opened its doorsthe book now so familiar to Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi that they could quote whole paragraphs without reference to the text itselfthat same Clovis Andersen, who had so unexpectedly and impossibly stepped through the front door of the agency, was now due to meet Mma Ramotswe on the verandah of the President Hotel.

It was midmorning on the day follog their first encounter, and Mma Ramotswe had arranged the meeting there because she was due to go out to Mochudi that morning and she wanted to show him the village where she was born and where she went to school. It would also be an opportunity for her to talk to the great detective without Mma Makutsi interrupting every second minute. It was clear to Mma Ramotswe that her assistant was starstruck, as she had gone on for some time about Clovis Andersen after he had left the office, her eyes flashing with excitement behind those large round glasses of hers. No, Mma Makutsi should not be allowed to monopolise Clovis Andersen just yet; she would have her fair share of the distinguished visitors time, but it would be important not to create the impression at this early stage that everybody in Botswana wore large round glasses, made rather firm pronouncements on a wide range of subjects, and reminded others of the marks they had achieved in their final examinations in whatever it was they had studied. But even as she thought this, even as she heard Mma Makutsis voice say ninetyseven per cent, she stopped herself.

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