  The hydrogen-deficient star DY Cen has been reported as an R CrB-type
variable, an extreme helium star (with some hydrogen), and as a single-lined
spectroscopic binary. It has been associated with a dramatic change in visual
brightness and colour corresponding to a change in effective temperature
($T_{\mathrm eff}$) of some 20,000 K in the last century. To characterize the
binary orbit and $T_{\mathrm eff}$ changes more precisely, new high-resolution
spectroscopy has been obtained with SALT. The previous orbital period is not
confirmed; previous measurements may have been confused by the presence of
pulsations. Including data from earlier epochs (1987, 2002, and 2010),
self-consistent spectral analyses from all four epochs demonstrate an increase
in $T_{\mathrm eff}$ from 18,800 to 24,400 K between 1987 and 2015. Line
profiles demonstrate that the surface rotation has increased by a factor two
over the same interval. This is commensurate with the change in $T_{\mathrm
eff}$ and an overall contraction. Rotation will exceed critical if contraction
continues. The 1987 spectrum shows evidence of a very high abundance of the
s-process element strontium. The very rapid evolution, non-negligible surface
hydrogen and high surface strontium point to a history involving a very late
thermal pulse. Observations over the next thirty years should look for a
decreasing pulsation period, reactivation of R CrB-type activity as the star
seeks to shed angular momentum and increasing illumination by emission lines
from nebular material ejected in the past.
