‘I’ve always had a big mouth and two big feet, Han.’ Sarah stood up and walked around the table to put her arms around her friend. ‘I haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, really. I’m sorry.’

‘And I’ve become a bossy cow. I have to really fight to survive around here.’

‘She’s not so bossy,’ Piet looked at Sarah. ‘Hannah is the best. It can be lonely here and she works very hard. So don’t take it to heart that she sometimes has to let off some steam.’

‘Well, there’s certainly nothing wrong with her dairy produce,’ Camilla said, spreading a thick layer of butter on to her toast.

‘I’ve never seen anyone so skinny eat so much breakfast. Hurry up, Camilla.’ Hannah was embarrassed, anxious to put the incident behind her. ‘I have plenty to do around here, and you’re supposed to be helping me. Piet, the horses are ready, and Kipchoge’s waiting.’

Apart from the two Africans trotting some way behind them, Sarah had Piet all to herself. Joy fizzed through her veins as he began to talk about all that he hoped to accomplish, describing not only the lodge but the details of his plan to turn part of the farm into a conservation area.

‘I’m sorry I spoke out of turn at breakfast,’ Sarah said. ‘I believe you’ll do something that’s great for this country. You’re an exceptional person, Piet, and your workers are lucky. But most Europeans still seem to think Africans are inferior and lazy, and not capable of managing a democratic country. I read that book by Jomo Kenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya. It made me realise that they had a tribal system in place here, and we just blundered in and changed it to suit ourselves. So why should Africans be expected to accept a set of laws totally alien to them, without rebelling?’

Piet reined in his horse and looked at Sarah sternly. ‘Come on, Sarah. I’ve read Kenyatta’s book. Even Hannah has read it. But you’re surely not telling me that the Mau Mau was justified? Those bastards tortured and murdered thousands in the most savage way. Most of them innocent Africans from their own tribe. You’re not trying to tell me you feel sympathy for them? That they had the right to do that?’

‘No. No, of course not!’ Sarah was flustered. ‘The Mau Mau was utterly barbaric, with the oath taking and the massacres. But I don’t think there’s any revolution in the world that didn’t degenerate into blood-letting before it eventually became respectable. And Kenyatta has become an eminently respectable statesman in the same way. Hasn’t he? He’s a wily old bird.’