During the trial, Stephen comes to the doorstep of where James is staying quite by accident, seeking out another missing woman from his hometown. Absalom admits to his presence, but denies he planned to kill Arthur. The two men arrested with Absalom, including John's son, claim they were not at the scene of the murder. Arthur believed that the native people's way of life had been destroyed by white men, leading to the current epidemic of violence and fear. When he goes through his son’s office, James is struck by his son’s activism and beliefs, and his deep sympathies with the native population. Like Stephen with Absalom, James struggles with the fact that he never really knew his son, and his son’s life and work was a mystery to him. The distraught couple flies to Johannesburg. Meanwhile, back in Ndotsheni, James Jarvis and his wife receive news of their son’s murder. Carmichael agrees to take on the case pro deo (for God). He then visits Absalom in prison, looking for answers still, but gets none. Stephen offers to take her back with him when he leaves Johannesburg. The next day, Stephen seeks out the young girl who is pregnant with Absalom’s child. Father Vincent instructs Stephen to pray and rest. He goes and visits his son in jail, and is frustrated by the lack of answers. Soon, Stephen learns the police have arrested Absalom for the murder of Arthur Jarvis. As Stephen continues to look for his son, he is panicked to learn the police are also searching for Absalom, and are tracing the same steps Stephen had taken to try to locate him. There is a headline in the newspaper: a local white man, Arthur Jarvis, has been shot and killed in a home invasion. Stephen finds Absalom’s girlfriend, who is pregnant with his child, and learns he’s been missing for days.

From there, they trace his path across Johannesburg. His brother gives Stephen information about the location of Absalom. Stephen locates his brother John, who has become something of a corrupt bigwig, in order to find out where his son has gone. The next morning, they seek out Gertrude and find her. He eventually connects with Msimangu and other men of the cloth, where they assure him they will take him to his sister.

Stephen journeys to Johannesburg for the first time, and he is overwhelmed by the experience. Additionally, he decides to seek out Absalom, who also left for Johannesburg and has not returned or written. Stephen decides to take his money, once saved to send his son Absalom to attend school, and go to Johannesburg to retrieve her. In Ndotsheni, South Africa, Stephen Kumalo, a church parson, receives a letter from a minister in Johannesburg, Theophilus Msimangu, telling him that Stephen’s sister Gertrude is ill.

The beloved country by alan paton