Sylvie was wearing a sleeveless green silk dress with a pearl necklace, and black eye makeup that showed off the clear whites of her eyes and her long lashes. Her hair was set around her face in waves, and pinned back with dark clips inlaid with more pearls. I snatched a look at her long legs, which weren’t usually on display. The roof of the car had been folded down, and the goose-pimples on her calves told me there had been a breeze as they drove over.

‘Hop in,’ Sylvie said.

She’d brought a hipflask of pink gin and gave me a sip as I climbed in behind them. The flask had bite marks on it.

‘Samson,’ she said, seeing me notice them. ‘He thought we were playing catch. We had to chase him all the way around the garden before he’d drop it.’

‘And where’s Roderigo?’

‘Sleeping. He broke into the drinks cabinet this afternoon and got sozzled, the scamp.’

‘Went straight for the best brandy,’ Nicolas said.

‘At least you know he has taste.’

They laughed. Nicolas ground the gears and we rattled off. As we crested the top of a hill, the sun hung directly in front of us like an orange jewel in the sky, then it slipped out of sight.

‘We should be there before eight,’ Nicolas said.

Sylvie passed the hipflask back to me again. ‘Are you excited? Your first Kirlton party.’

‘Will it be different to a normal party?’

I saw them exchange looks.

‘Quite different,’ Nicolas said.

Sylvie held out her hand, palm towards the sky. ‘I think it’s going to pour down,’ she said. ‘I love nights like this.’

The air was soft and heavy with the promise of rain. Smells carried further in that atmosphere, and I was dazzled with the mix of flowers and earth and Sylvie. I leaned back against the leather seat and looked up at the stars. They seemed much closer in Africa than anywhere else – vast, white and glittering, so different to the small, dirty-yellow ones you saw in London, or Edinburgh skies.

‘Could you light the lanterns?’ Nicolas asked me after a while.

I lit two and passed one to Sylvie, keeping the other for myself. The road ahead was black as tar, and from either side came the rustling of unknown creatures. I closed my eyes and sniffed the air, to see if I could distinguish them by smell alone.

‘Almost there,’ Nicolas said.

‘I can’t wait,’ Sylvie said, looking back at me. ‘I feel like screaming.’

Her eyes were bright and I felt their excitement spill over and infect me. ‘Do it,’ I said.

Her scream was breathy and enticing, and I was overwhelmed with the desire to wrap my arms around her.

‘Here we go,’ Nicolas said.