On chapter 10 What tragic news does Kumalo receive about his son?

In Chapter 10 the white man learns that Absalom has not been at work this week. The news concerning Absalom continues to foreshadow a disastrous fate for the errant son. A nurse points them to Mrs. Hlatshwayos, who tells them that Absalom stayed with her because he had no place to go, but the magistrate sent him to the reformatory. Kumalo and Msimangu thus visit the reformatory, where a white man tells them that Absalom was given leave partially because of good behavior, partially because he got a girl pregnant. While Absalom acted well at the reformatory, the very fact that he was sentenced to a reformatory does not bode well for him, while the fact that he has been missing suggest the existence of problems that will drive the plot of the second stage of the novel.