She knew she was gabbling, but his unexpected arrival had flustered her. Lars smiled apologetically at Allie and accepted the beer. They talked of the research work for a few minutes, and then Allie made some tactful excuse and vanished. Lars sat in morose silence, his hands clamped tight around the arms of the chair.

‘Lars.’ Sarah leaned towards him. ‘Tell me. You didn’t just decide to leave work and come up here for a beer.’

‘No.’ His face was grim. ‘I’ve left Langani altogether.’

‘What?’ She was incredulous.

‘I finally packed it in, Sarah.’ He took a long swallow from his tankard. ‘Hannah hasn’t told you?’

‘No. No, she was on the radio last night, asking me to go down. But she didn’t say why.’

‘I took it for as long as I could. I did like you said, Sarah. Waited, looked after things, tried to be patient. Ja.’ He nodded his head slowly. ‘I waited and I did my best. When that bastard Viktor arrived, with his smooth talk and his mad laughing, I drove into Nanyuki and played tennis. Had a drink at the club. Kept out of the way. But I couldn’t stay and watch it any longer. He is a predator and she can’t see it. I know he has other women. There is talk of it, even in Nanyuki, but she won’t listen. It makes me sick to see him prowling around her, to see how she is mesmerised. Ja, that is the word – mesmerised by him. It makes me seethe.’ He blinked hard, as though there was a speck of dirt in his eye, and he was trying to clear his vision. ‘I saw him take her to his room. I said to Piet that he must stop it. But he can’t, of course. And I tried to tell her what he is, to warn her that he will not stay. I even told her that I loved her.’ He looked away, out at the torn trees that ringed the camp, and his smile was thin. ‘But what good was that?’

‘She’s stubborn,’ Sarah said. ‘But—’

‘Stupid! I was stupid to say anything. She was furious. She said it was none of my business, what she did. If I did not like how she behaved, I should leave.’ He put his hands behind his head and stared up into the bleached sky, so he would not have to see the pity in Sarah’s eyes. ‘So I told Piet I couldn’t stay. It made me feel very bad, to leave my friend Piet. But I could not go on working under those circumstances. Not after she told me to go.’

‘I’m really sorry, Lars.’