‘No.’ After Sylvie had ended things between us, I’d had a horror of losing Freddie too. They’d played such a big part in my life, I almost didn’t know who I’d be without them. I’d written to Lucy saying she should respect her father’s opinions and I would too. I can’t abandon my friends, I’d put. So I suppose this is goodbye. I’d avoided being alone with Maud as well, in case she brought up campaigning against him again. At least I rarely saw my mother; the few times I’d sat through dinner with her I’d had to bite my tongue, simmering with the knowledge that she was partly responsible for my losing Sylvie.

Freddie was looking at the floor. ‘You know,’ he said eventually, ‘this wine is second-rate.’ He stood up. ‘Henry.’

Henry appeared in the doorway. ‘Yes, Bwana?’

‘Bring us two glasses of the 1896 Macallan. And one for yourself.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Expensive stuff.’

‘If you can’t share it with true friends, what good is it?’

He smiled at me, and my stomach bumped, pleasurably.

Henry returned with the whisky and we chinked again. I took a mouthful, closing my eyes as I savoured it. It was smooth and spicy, with a long, warm aftertaste.

I opened my eyes again. Freddie was laughing at Henry, who was spluttering at the end of my sofa, tears streaming down his face.

‘Like it, Henry?’

‘Yes, Bwana.’

‘Stop telling me what you think I want to hear.’

‘Yes, Bwana.’

Freddie held his hand out for the glass and Henry gave it back, meekly.

‘It’s an acquired taste,’ Freddie said. ‘You haven’t failed any sort of test.’ He nudged the toto with his foot. ‘Go on, get back to work.’

Henry fled indoors. Freddie grinned at me. ‘He’s a good boy,’ he said, sitting down again. ‘I like him a lot. But I couldn’t face him as an equal, let alone a superior, in any field – at work or at the club, say. That’s what your sister isn’t thinking of when she criticises the “benevolent white autocracy”.’

‘Maud?’

‘Hasn’t she told you?’

‘Told me what?’

‘She came to the last Committee meeting. Mostly to argue against securing the white highlands for European settlement only. Outside the townships, of course.’ He crossed his legs. ‘The natives love her. They don’t see the aim of the Empire isn’t the exploitation of a few unfortunate souls – it’s larger, and nobler than that. We take our responsibility to develop their welfare and mould their way of life very seriously.’ He took a sip of his drink. ‘Why are you smiling?’

I cradled my glass, looking down at the amber liquid inside. ‘I’m just remembering the day we met – I didn’t think we’d be here discussing politics all these years later.’