How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
'Oh yes,' said Mrs. Wells. 'Just think of it: an Oriental presence, at this evening's séance!'
'Is a séance an Oriental practice?' Anna said, doubtfully (II.6.68-69).
Here, Lydia Wells has just come up with the idea to invite Sook to be present at the séance she's holding that night. She basically wants to use him to create a certain kind of aesthetic or mood; she thinks it will add to the mystery of the whole affair. The idea that "the Orient" was some scary, mysterious, unknowable place was pretty commonplace during English imperial expansion, and Lydia is just trying to cash in on that cultural shorthand …
Quote #8
'In fact it was you, Mr. Mannering, who gave me the idea. Your Sensations from the Orient. Nothing sells tickets like an Oriental touch! I saw it twice—once from the gallery, and once from the stalls' (II.10.65).
Here, Lydia Wells is telling Mannering about how she got the idea to include Sook in her séance. Apparently, she had seen his own Sensations from the Orient exhibition—remember how we said that the English liked to build up this crazy idea of the Orient in their mind? Well, this is another example of how that tendency often translated into entertainment or thrills for English.
Quote #9
'Frank Carver speaks Chinese?' one of the others said, in a voice of incredulity.
'He goes back and forth from canton, does he not?'
'Born in Hong Kong.'
'Yes, but to speak the language—as they do!'
'Makes you think different of the man' (II.11.89-93).
During the séance, Lydia Wells apparently went into a trance and then started talking in Chinese. Sook knew that she was repeating the oath he had sworn to kill Frank Carver several years before, and tells the other men in the room that it was Carver (and not Staines) who had been channeled. Apparently, the idea that Frank Carver could speak Chinese rocks these guys' world and makes them think differently of Frank…really, guys, this is what makes you "think different" of him?