Byrne tore off a piece of his bread roll. ‘It is an African territory, as the Duke points out. Why shouldn’t the Africans’ interests be taken into account?’

‘Because they’re baboons,’ Soames said.

Maud turned further towards her neighbour.

‘Jack.’ Genesse nodded at the wine toto in the corner of the room. He held the jug of wine perfectly still, staring impassively at a point above our heads.

‘The system now seems fair to me,’ Freddie said. ‘We’re obviously cleverer –’

‘Are we?’ Byrne interrupted. ‘Aren’t we just imposing Western standards of intelligence on a society that prizes different abilities?’

‘Come on, Byrne.’ Freddie ran a hand through his hair. I felt suddenly sorry for the Governor. ‘Did the natives have an enlightenment period? Culturally and intellectually they’re centuries behind us.’

‘I don’t agree. They’ve got an extremely rich culture of music, stories, art –’

‘Are you seriously comparing a bunch of stick figures with the Botticelli Mother and Child?’ Soames asked.

‘Of course I’m not,’ Byrne said.

‘He’s playing devil’s advocate,’ Kiki said.

‘I’m merely pointing out we can’t dismiss their contributions just because they differ from our own.’

‘They didn’t have an industrial revolution either,’ Freddie said. ‘We did.’

‘Because we had access to natural resources like coal and iron. And our population was growing, so we had a larger labour market –’

‘There are plenty of natural resources here,’ Freddie said. ‘And you could let the native population grow until kingdom come and they still wouldn’t come up with an industrial revolution – our brains are just different.’ He sat back in his chair. ‘You know, the world could do a lot worse than if we were in charge.’

‘We?’

‘Great Britain. We’ve got the fairest justice system in the world, the best universities, a history of great political, philosophical and scientific thinkers. We discovered gravity. We gave women the right to vote – can you imagine that happening here?’

‘You sure that’s a sign of civilisation?’ Soames said. Kiki threw a piece of bread at him, booing. It bounced off him and fell in front of Maud but she didn’t seem to notice it. She was watching Freddie intently. I could see her hands fidgeting in her lap. I felt a pang of sympathy for her. At university I’d realised this was how adults sorted through ideas and opinions, through debating with others. She probably thought a fight was about to break out.