‘It was a last-minute thing,’ said Douglas. ‘My wife was keen to see a rubber estate.’

The couple exchanged glances, then Mrs Hyde-Underwood said, ‘Well it’s an unexpected pleasure.’ She turned to Evie. ‘I can’t remember the last time Mr Barrington came up here.’

A look of annoyance flickered across Douglas’s face. ‘That’s because I know the place is in good hands with Reggie here.’

Hyde-Underwood glanced at his wife again. They appeared to have a means of communicating without speech. He said, ‘Why don’t I give Mrs Barrington a tour of the estate while you find out what Cook can rustle up for us, darling. After tiffin you can show her round the house and garden while the tuan and I talk business.’

This plan appearing to suit all parties, Evie followed her husband and the estate manager. Once they were outside, she turned to Reggie. ‘It looks like Mrs Hyde-Underwood is soon to have a baby.’

The man grinned from ear to ear. ‘Our first. We’re very excited.’

‘Congratulations.’ She couldn’t help noticing a pained look cross her own husband’s face.

Douglas let Hyde-Underwood do all the talking as he led them around the estate, pointing out the ‘lines’ where the coolies lived – long rows of corrugated-iron roofed single-storey dwellings. The roof slopes jutted forward beyond the buildings to provide a shelter and there were a few women, sitting on mats in the shade, preparing vegetables or tending to children.

‘Bellavista is quite small,’ said Hyde-Underwood. ‘Less than a thousand acres. We have two hundred tappers working here. Mostly Tamils.’ Beyond the lines was a large open area of bare flat ground. ‘We do the muster here each morning at five-thirty,’.

‘The muster?’

‘Roll-call. If they’re not present they don’t get paid for that day. The muster’s also the time we do any briefings, and allocate duties and work details.’

Evie glanced at Douglas. ‘Five-thirty’s awfully early.’

Reggie Hyde-Underwood answered. ‘We have to tap the rubber in the coolest part of the day. The latex runs better then. It coagulates when the temperature gets too hot and seals up the cut. We break in the middle of the day for tiffin and a bit of a snooze and start again with other tasks in the afternoon until five. When I show you, you’ll understand.’

He plunged into the ranks of rubber trees and they followed him. The trees were tall and straight and planted even distances apart. The branches, instead of spreading outwards from the trunk, grew upwards towards the light, the leaves small and glossy. The mottled silvery bark was spotted with patches of lichen with the areas of the trunks where tapping had taken place darker and nobbled in texture. It was a gloomy place, the trees creating a dark arched canopy over their heads, like the crypt of a cathedral.

Taking a hooked knife, Hyde-Underwood cut a diagonal slit in the bark of a nearby tree. ‘When it’s cooler, the latex is more liquid and runs down the slit into the collecting cup.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘See here. It’s already a bit too sticky and it’s sealing over where I made the cut. But if you do it before dawn, the rubber runs freely.’