He allowed himself to be led away, but turned his face to me. ‘We’ll show them, won’t we?’ he said. ‘Never let them tell you what to do, son.’

‘I won’t.’

Maud came back a few minutes later, rubbing her eyes.

‘How long has he been like this?’ I asked.

‘A few days.’

‘You should have told me.’

‘You’re busy. And I hoped he’d get better. Sometimes he is.’ She sank down in front of the fire, holding her hands out to the flames, and I felt a fierce rush of love for her.

‘I shouldn’t have left you to cope alone.’

‘I want to do it. It’s just hard watching him slip away.’ She looked at me despairingly. ‘And then there’s you, too.’

‘What about me?’

‘You’re almost twenty-six now, Theo. If you’d married Lucy and bought your own house I wouldn’t have to worry about you being lonely. At least Father has us.’

I felt my mouth twisting involuntarily. ‘Well – too late now. Get some rest.’

My father’s cough came through the walls all night. The next morning Maud shook me awake. ‘He’s got a fever,’ she said. ‘Can you drive for the doctor?’

I was halfway to Naivasha when I recognised Dr Gregory’s car coming in the opposite direction. I thought of how he’d lied to me, how he was providing Martha with heroin, and almost let him go past, but I knew Maud wouldn’t forgive me if something happened while I was trying to find someone else.

I flagged him down. He wound down his window, grinning; I didn’t return it. At least I didn’t have to be friendly.

‘Of course I’ll come have a look,’ he said, when I described my father’s symptoms. ‘How long has he been this way?’

‘A few days, my sister says.’

He followed me back to the house and climbed the steps unhurriedly. Maud was waiting for us inside. She rose as soon as I opened the door.

‘I met Dr Gregory on the road,’ I said.

‘Thank you for coming, doctor. Can I get you a drink?’

‘Not for me, no.’

She rose. ‘Then I’ll show you to Father straight away.’

‘Good idea.’ Gregory rolled up his sleeves.

He was in with my father for half an hour and came out shaking his head. ‘Where’s your mother?’

‘In Nairobi.’

‘I think you’d better tell her to come home.’