‘Poor man,’ said the judge’s wife. ‘That young woman was obviously never going to cope with the life here. People like her shouldn’t marry men like the Captain. She should have stayed in Suffolk, or wherever it was that she came from.’

‘She had a roving eye,’ said the cattle-trader’s widow.

The judge’s wife seemed surprised. ‘Oh? How could you tell?’

‘I just could,’ said the cattle-trader’s widow. ‘I find that I can always tell. I’m very rarely wrong about these things.’

They invited the Captain to play bridge twice a week. He usually partnered the cattle-trader’s widow, and the judge’s wife played opposite her husband, a man of few words who always seemed to be staring off into the distance, even when the cards were in his hand. People said that this was because he was unhappy in his job, and that he thought of the men he was obliged to sentence to prison.

‘He’s too sensitive for the work he does,’ said the cattle-trader’s widow. ‘An empire is a brutal thing, you know. I remember my husband saying that. Brutal.’

4

The Captain received a visit from a boy, who was a cousin of his wife. This boy was eighteen and was wandering around before he went to university. He wrote to the Captain and asked him whether he could stay for a few weeks. His ship was due to arrive in Cape Town, and he would come up from there to Basutoland straight away.

The Captain was pleased to discover that the boy was a good cricketer. The cricket team in which the Captain played was in need of a bowler, and the boy fitted the bill perfectly. During the day, the boy went to a local school and taught cricket there. This was done at the suggestion of the Captain, who thought that it was better for the boy to be doing something rather than sitting about the house all day.

He took the boy with him on a trip down to the south of the country when he had to visit his junior administrators. They went into the mountains on Basuto ponies and set up camp near a small river, which tumbled down the hillside. From this camp the night was a dark blanket under a sky that was filled with sparkling constellations of stars. It made one dizzy to lie back and look up into the heavens. ‘That way,’ said the Captain, ‘that way, down there, is the Indian Ocean.’

‘I know,’ said the boy.

5

After the boy had stayed for three months, the Captain said to him that it was time to consider moving on. The boy held the Captain’s gaze for a few moments, then looked away, in the direction of the hills. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘Not just yet. I’m helping that cricket team to improve. I’d like to stay longer. I take it that’s all right with you.’

It was not a question, it was a statement. The Captain opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw the boy staring at him. He turned away in silence.