‘Do you think I’ll ever fit in here?’ Before he could answer she added, ‘But I’m not sure I even want to.’

‘I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. I often feel that way myself. I sometimes think I’m only accepted because they all feel they have to keep on the right side of me.’ He brushed an insect off his trouser leg. ‘And as they’re all terrified of my formidable wife that’s another reason they want to keep me onside.’ He gave a hollow laugh.

Evie wanted to ask him how he had come to be married to Veronica when they were so very different, but despite his warmth and his being the only person in Penang that she felt comfortable with, she hesitated to broach the topic. Instead she asked him about Douglas.

‘You and Douglas are awfully different and yet you’re his best friend.’

‘Doug doesn’t really do friendship. I suppose, if I’m being generous, I’m the person he trusts most – but if I’m being honest, I’d say it was more that I’m the person he dislikes least.’

She looked up at him, puzzled. ‘Are you saying my husband isn’t a very nice person?’

His mouth twitched at the corners. ’I’m merely saying that he’s a hard man to get to know. He’s very much a loner. Doesn’t open up to anyone.’ With a dry laugh he added, ‘Mind you, none of us men are very hot on revealing what we think or feel. One thing a public school education provides is an unsurpassed ability to suppress one’s emotions.’

‘You don’t seem at all like that.’

‘That’s probably because I didn’t go to public school. I’m a grammar school boy. It made it damned hard to rise even to the far from heady levels I have achieved in the civil service. I’m not one of them.’

‘And is Douglas?’

‘No. He’s different altogether. He went to Eton but he doesn’t behave like the rest of them. He’s very much his own man. Doug prefers his own company. He’s passionate about rubber and everything to do with his estate. Shows up at the club on the rare occasions he’s in town but the rest of the time we never see him.’

‘Is that why Felicity preferred living in George Town? Did she like the club and everything that comes with it?’

‘Felicity hated Penang. Full stop. She wanted to be back in England. There was no way that Doug would ever agree to moving back there. She found the rubber estate isolated and missed her old social life and her family. When he wouldn’t sell up and move back to England she felt he’d let her down.’ He leaned back, stretching his long legs. ‘According to Veronica, Doug had promised Felicity when he persuaded her to move out here that it would only be for a few months, a year at most, until he could find a buyer for the place. But he fell in love with the rubber business, with the countryside, with Malaya, with being a planter. That’s why they got the house in George Town – he thought if she was here in town it would give her some companionship and interests, but all Felicity wanted was to be back home.’