‘But you went to Oxford, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. But that merely gets you in the door of the Colonial Office – it’s the old school tie that gets you advancement. Doug is “one of us”. But the funny thing is, he never gave a damn. He’s always accepted people for what they deliver not where they come from. That’s probably why we get along.’

‘But Doug wasn’t in the Foreign Service.’

‘Good lord, can you imagine? Doug and diplomacy are not a marriage made in heaven.’

Pushing away the thought that neither were Doug and Evie, she continued to listen, rapt.

‘To cap it all, as a single man, I wasn’t exactly first choice in the pile either. The foreign service like to get good value for money and see wives as unpaid employees. They even assess them and grade them, as well as their husbands.’

‘Really? Why?’

‘So much of the job revolves around entertaining people, and the wife is key to the success of that. The service want their men to choose wives who are perfect hostesses and conversationalists, as able to chat to an irascible Turk with poor English, as an African tribal chief or the Sultan of Selangor.’

‘And Veronica can do all that?’ Evie hoped her voice didn’t give away her disbelief.

‘Veronica is a consummate actress. For her, it’s a role and she steps out onto the stage and plays it. She has a limitless supply of small talk, always knows the best places for visitors to go, the right people for them to meet. And she knows better than anyone how to flirt and flatter and is bloody good at organising things.’

Evie reflected that, apart from bossing her about and telling her where to buy her clothes, Veronica had never thought it necessary to do any of this in her case.

Stretching her legs out in front of her alongside Arthur’s longer ones, Evie churned up the sand with her heels. ‘If you don’t mind my saying it, Arthur, you two seem an unlikely couple. But I suppose they say opposites attract.’

He gave a dry laugh. ‘We’re more alike than you think. At heart we’re both selfish ambitious people.’

‘You don’t strike me that way at all. Not selfish. And there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious.’

‘Maybe there is when it causes you to do things you’re ashamed of.’

She looked at him, puzzled, but he looked away, avoiding her eyes, jumped to his feet and reached out to pull her up. ‘Enough talk. It’s time we had that swim, then I must get back to the office.’

They ran together into the warm sea. Evie struck out, cutting her way through the blue water. Arthur was right. It was even nicer being in the sea than in the swimming pool. And there wasn’t a soul around. He swam after her, catching her up. ‘You’re a strong swimmer,’ he said. ‘It’s hard keeping up with you.’

Arthur was laughing, the sun lighting up his tanned, wet face. He looked different without his glasses. Less serious. Until today she’d never seen him as sporty, but now she was all too aware of his strong athletic build. Suddenly she didn’t want him to go back to his office. She wanted him to stay here all afternoon with her, talking to her under the casuarina trees, telling her about Africa.