Ah Sook becomes a Eastern dummy of the spirit gathering

Ah Sook’s visit to Anna Wetherell at the Wayfarer’s Fortune turns a long-awaited reunion into a collision between memory and change. He comes to Hokitika hoping to see Anna, but finds her sober, no longer working as a prostitute, and living with Lydia Wells. When Lydia invites him to take part in a séance, Ah Sook accepts for the chance to speak with Emery Staines, not understanding that Staines will appear only in spirit. The episode brings Anna’s changed life into sharp view while showing how Lydia turns Ah Sook’s presence into part of a staged performance.

The Journey to Hokitika

Ah Sook has sat for a long while after a young visitor leaves, then abruptly decides that waiting for Anna is intolerable. He will go to Hokitika that afternoon and demand an audience with her. He gathers his pipe and tools and goes inside for his coat: the decision converts private longing into an immediate journey.

His understanding of events in Hokitika is incomplete. Three weeks earlier, at the Crown Hotel gathering, he and Ah Quee had struggled to follow the rapid, accented account being given in English. Requests for clarification from Chinese men had tried the other men’s patience, leaving both with only fragments of what was said. Ah Sook does not know that Anna has left the Gridiron Hotel to live with Lydia, or that Francis Carver commanded the Godspeed, which foundered on the Hokitika bar. Because he missed the men’s visit to the wreck and returned to Kaniere, he still believes Carver sailed for Canton and will not return soon. Thomas Balfour, having forgotten that he had supplied this misinformation, has not corrected him. The visit therefore begins under a double misapprehension: Ah Sook does not know where Anna lives or how much has changed around her.

A Reunion with a Changed Anna

At half past three, Ah Sook reaches the veranda of the Gridiron Hotel and asks to see Anna, pronouncing her name gravely and with satisfaction, as though the meeting had long been arranged. He offers a shilling to show that he is willing to pay for her conversation and bows deeply in respect. Edgar Clinch, whom Ah Sook remembers from the secret council as a decent and reasonable man, shakes his head and points across Revell Street to the newly washed Wayfarer’s Fortune. When Ah Sook does not understand, Clinch brings him outside and explains more slowly that Anna lodges there. Ah Sook notices movement in the opposite hotel’s window, recognizes Anna, retrieves his shilling from Clinch, and crosses the street to knock.

Anna has recently received callers who miss her appearances at the Dust and Nugget and try to persuade her to join them for drinks and conversation. She has turned them away. At first she answers Ah Sook with the same guarded readiness to close the door, but recognition changes her response: she opens it wide in surprise. Ah Sook, who has spent weeks recalling her, is struck by how different she seems. Her black dress is new, but the deeper change is in her appearance and manner. She is sober; the dreamy vagueness and syrupy movements he remembers are gone, and her eyes look brighter and more alert. Her cheeks have a new lustre, though she is much thinner than he recalls, with sunken cheeks and the bones of her wrist plainly visible.

The sight brings astonishment and then bitterness. Ah Sook understands that Anna has freed herself from opium, while he has tried for more than a decade to do the same and remains its slave. Anna, meanwhile, steadies herself against the doorframe and whispers that he cannot come in. Their reunion is real but not a restoration of their former intimacy: he sees the woman he remembers, yet she is no longer living within the haze that had shaped their time together.

Refusal and Recruitment

When Anna recognizes Ah Sook through the association with opium, he changes his approach and offers to buy her at the highest price. Lydia laughs, and Anna blushes as she explains that she has stopped selling sex and is no longer for sale. Her refusal marks a decisive difference between the relationship Ah Sook remembers and the life Anna now claims. He is bewildered; she thanks him for calling and appears to bring the encounter to a close.

Lydia interrupts by gripping Ah Sook’s forearm and insisting that he come to the séance that evening. Anna points out that he has no ticket, but Lydia ignores the practical objection. She treats Ah Sook as a useful exotic presence, comparing his stillness to that of a living statue, rather than first establishing whether he understands the invitation. Her enthusiasm turns the private visit into a recruitment, while Anna becomes the interpreter between Lydia and Ah Sook.

The Invitation’s Terms and Meaning

Anna explains that Lydia wants Ah Sook present at a meeting with Emery Staines. She repeats the unfamiliar word séance, and Ah Sook infers from the context that it means some kind of gathering. He is told to return that night, sit on a cushion in the corner as he is sitting now, and join other men arranged in a circle while Staines stands in the centre. Ah Sook confirms that he understands the basic arrangement, but not its crucial premise: Staines is expected to be present in spirit, not in person.

Lydia is willing to pay for Ah Sook’s contribution. Anna conveys the offer, and a wary negotiation ends with his agreement to accept one shilling. He does not mistake the odd arrangement for ordinary employment: he suspects that he is being asked to play a part in a scripted drama and recognizes that the promised fee is payment for doing almost nothing. Even so, he accepts, chiefly for Anna’s sake and because the gathering may give him a chance to speak to Staines. The invitation thus rests on a gap in understanding, but Ah Sook’s decision is not simply credulity; he knows he has not grasped the whole situation and chooses to proceed because its uncertainties may resolve themselves.

The final exchange leaves that gap visible. Ah Sook looks steadily at Anna, while her clear expression seems detached to him, perhaps because he is unaccustomed to seeing her without opium’s veil. The scene makes the séance invitation serve two purposes at once: it draws Ah Sook toward the evening’s staged encounter, and it measures the distance between the Anna he remembers and the sober woman who now refuses to be bought.