They spent the day beside the river, taking a picnic and binoculars and fishing rods. The banks were alive with bird calls and they watched a troupe of colobus monkeys flying through the trees above them, trailing their black-and-white capes like wings. When Hannah heard the grating sound of a leopard in the distance she clung to Viktor with mock alarm, and he kissed her and slid his hand under the waistband of her jeans to reawaken her excitement. They made love, hidden in the trees along the river bank. Later he made her laugh as he tried to fish for trout, spending much of his time retrieving his fishing flies and untangling his line from logs and branches where they were firmly caught. Finally, he landed a plump rainbow trout almost by accident, and Hannah caught two.

Lars was sitting at the desk when she returned to the house. He looked up and she recognised the jealousy and the misery in his eyes, and regretted it. His hands were folded in front of him and he was outwardly calm, but she saw that his fingers were clasped tightly together and his nails were white with the pressure.

‘How are things?’ she asked, as casually as she could.

‘Busy.’

‘I told Kamau we’d have dinner around nine.’

‘That’s very late,’ Lars said. ‘We always eat around eight. I’ve had a pretty long day.’

‘Viktor’s gone for a sleep, and I haven’t cleaned up yet.’

‘Oh, we wouldn’t want to interrupt Viktor if he’s sleeping.’ Lars was heavily sarcastic. ‘Excuse me. I’m going to check on the generator. They had a problem earlier on. So I may not be all togged up in Italian linen and aftershave at the dinner table, but I hope I’ll be invited to eat with you anyway.’

‘Don’t be such an idiot, Lars,’ she said, irritated by his outburst. ‘You’re being childish because I’ve spent the day out with Viktor, and you don’t like that and your dinner is delayed. You’re too set in your ways, you and Piet. Like part of an old married couple stuck in their routine. But I’ve had a lekker day, let me tell you. It was fun and it was the first in a long time. And you’re not going to pour cold water on it.’

At dinner he was taciturn, responding to Viktor in monosyllables, refusing to meet Hannah’s eyes as she pointed out that she and Viktor had caught the trout that Mwangi was serving.

‘It’s beautiful along the river,’ Viktor said. ‘A place that Shakespeare would have dreamed about for his forest settings. Piet and I talked briefly about putting the lodge down there, you know, when he first came up with the idea. But the kopje had such a fine view, even though we had to pump water up there.’

‘So you spent the day by the river?’ Lars said, trying at last to take some part in the conversation.