The Luminaries

‘Merely to observe us!’

‘Yes, but to what end?’

The widow waved her hand. ‘Didn’t you see the spectacle at the Prince of Wales? Nothing sells tickets like an Oriental touch.’

‘He’s not unknown in Hokitika, you know,’ A

‘As will you!’ Mrs. Wells pointed out. ‘That won’t matter a jot.’

‘I don’t know,’ said A

‘A

‘Yes,’ A

‘Well—there,’ said Mrs. Wells, and laughed.

Ah Sook had not understood a word of this. He turned to A

‘A séance,’ A

Ah Sook shook his head. He did not know the word.

‘Let’s try it,’ said Mrs. Wells. ‘Come—come to the corner—A

She pushed Ah Sook down upon the cushion, and took several quick steps backwards, to appraise him from the other side of the room. She nodded with delight.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Do you see, A

‘He has not yet given his consent,’ A

Mrs. Wells looked faintly irritated; she did not protest this observation, however, but advanced upon Ah Sook, smiled, and peered down at him, her hands on her hips. ‘Do you know Emery Staines?’ she said, enunciating clearly. ‘Emery Staines? Do you know him?’

Ah Sook nodded. He knew Emery Staines.

‘Well,’ the woman said, ‘we are going to bring him here. Tonight. And speak with him. Emery Staines—here.’ She pointed at the floorboards with a lemon-scented hand.

A ray of understanding passed over Ah Sook’s face. Excellent: the prospector must have been found at last—and found alive! This was good news.

‘Very good,’ he said.

‘Tonight,’ said Mrs. Wells. ‘Here, at the Wayfarer’s Fortune. In this room. The party will begin at seven; the séance, at ten.’

‘Tonight,’ said Ah Sook, staring at her.

‘Precisely. You will be here. You will come. You will sit, as you are sitting now. Yes? Oh, A

Slowly, A

‘Does he understand it?’ said Mrs. Wells. ‘Does he understand?’

‘Yes,’ said Ah Sook, and then, to show her: ‘A séance with Emery Staines, tonight.’

‘Excellent,’ said Mrs. Wells, smiling down at him in the same way that one might smile at a precocious child after the recitation of a so

‘A whore in mourning and an Eastern mystic,’ she went on. ‘It is quite perfect; I am chilled simply thinking of it! Of course a séance is not an Oriental tradition’—in response to A

A

The widow turned upon A

A

Ah Sook was no fool. He knew very well that he had not really comprehended what was to happen that evening. It was very strange to him that A

With this, their negotiations were concluded. Ah Sook looked at A

Ah Sook decided to take her cool expression as a cue to leave, and rose from his cushion. He had calculated that he had time enough to walk to Kaniere and back again before the sun went down, and he wished to inform his compatriot Quee Long that Emery Staines would be present, that very evening, at the Wayfarer’s Fortune on Revell-street. He knew that Ah Quee had long desired an audience with Staines, wishing to interrogate the young prospector upon the matter of the Aurora gold; he would be very pleased to discover that Staines was alive.

Ah Sook bowed to the widow, and then to A

‘You’ll be back tonight—for the séance. Tonight,’ said Lydia Wells. ‘Say six o’clock.’

‘Six o’clock,’ Ah Sook echoed, and pointed at the cushion he had just vacated, to show that he understood. He glanced one last time at A

‘Goodbye,’ said Ah Sook, and stepped over the lintel.

But the widow did not close the door behind him, as he had expected; instead she reached for her shawl, wrapped it around her shoulders, and followed Ah Sook out on to the veranda. To A