‘He’s holding a meeting in Njoro next week – wants to explain British Fascism to us other settlers.’

‘I’d like to see that.’

‘I think we all would.’

The Njoro Country Club was a long building with a green corrugated iron roof – any rain heavier than a drizzle and Freddie’s voice would be drowned out. I peered up at the sky as my car bumped down the driveway the night of Freddie’s talk. The moon was completely hidden by clouds, but the air was so thick and still it was as if I was driving through cotton wool. Even the weather deferred to Freddie.

I parked in front of the building and made my way slowly through the arches and into the stiflingly hot interior. There were two hundred or so people at the meeting, jostling each other for the hundred or so chairs that the staff had put out, and the parquet was almost completely obscured. Chatter bounced off the gabled iron ceiling, and hung mid-air in one big conversation. I stood near the open French doors to the veranda, fanning myself with one of the pamphlets that were stacked on a nearby table. I saw Boy come in, and Edie. Edie blew me a kiss and several of the old men nearby whistled, but I was too distracted to respond. I hadn’t known she and Sylvie were back, and was suddenly impatient for the meeting to be over already so I could drive to The Farm.

Someone squeezed my arm gently and I looked to my left to see Maud.

‘Didn’t think I’d see you here,’ I said.

‘It’s better to be informed,’ she said. ‘Why are you here?’

‘I want to see him in action.’

She half-smiled. ‘Is Sylvie coming?’

‘I doubt it.’ I nodded towards the front doors. ‘Here’s the man of the hour though.’

Freddie came around the side of the room to kiss Maud and clap me on the back. He was wearing a brand-new navy-blue suit that sat well on his broad shoulders, and his teeth seemed straighter and whiter than ever. Martha’s face the last time I saw her flashed through my mind, pale and sweaty. It was for the best that she’d stayed at home.

‘We missed you at the supper,’ he said.

‘We heard about it,’ I said.

He laughed. ‘I’m glad you could come to this, anyway. You’re the future of Kenya after all.’

‘Don’t you think the Africans are the future of Kenya?’ Maud asked.

‘I think anyone who works hard here, farming and so on, is the future, black or white.’

‘That rules me out then,’ I said.

He grinned, and made as if to move off. ‘Well, thanks for your support. This is a big night for me.’

Maud straightened her blouse. ‘I’m not here as support.’

He turned back to us, raising an eyebrow. ‘No?’