Mrs. Coulter ed till nig. Jerome. After darkness  tention craft do treetop . tinctive s buildings of Geneva, and sers, toorial Court of Discipline ed times before; s ty of ention craft.

    Flying sloiles,  rain, so a little gully beteep tiled roof and toence nearby; it would do very well.

    S delicately onto tting its six feet find t to keep to love t sprang to  as s ; it could o touc olen it, Mrs. Coulter ered the

    controls, but sill   : selling .

    Once s tled, and t to support it, sook off t and climbed down.

    iles. Sed  of ttens on  through.

    quot;Go in and look around,quot; so the dark.

    Stic, and tood at once and folloo let . In t stic ure of all kinds  into storage.

    t to pusall cupboard in front of tiles iptoed to t tried t  ses later sanding at one end of a long corridor, aircase descending at ther.

    And five minutes after t, try next to tc into te around to t ant to arrive in tter ended to leave.

    quot;take your ; so t;and sesy, or I sell t t Mrs. Coulter  so see  once.quot;

    teet tantly coucked ail stump as lo would go.

    telepe later a fres came ening into teed to s.

    quot;; she said.

    quot;Brot; said t daemon, quot;Convener of tariat of torial Court. If you would be so kind...”

    quot;I  come o parley ; sold ;take me to Fat no;

    t h relief.

    Broter trying times to make conversation, gave up and led o ts rooms in to ions, and poor Brotly as steps crossed the floor.

    ts eyes widened as  was, and he smiled wolfishly.

    quot;Mrs. Coulter,quot; ;I am very glad to see you. My study is cold, and our ality is plain, but come in, come in.quot;

    quot;Good evening,quot; sone-tle fuss and so a c;t; so Brotill ;Ill take a glass of ce.quot;

    Noting it o treat , but  t . t nodded, and Broto leave and deal , to  annoyance.

    quot;Of course you are under arrest,quot; said t, taking turning up the lamp.

    quot;Oalk before ; said Mrs. Coulter. quot;I came arily, as soon as I could escape from Asriels fortress. t is, Fat, I  deal of information about  to give it to you.quot;

    quot;t;

    quot;My daugoo late for any of us to prevent tastropure and opportunity ogetinder. to your intervention, t is no;

    quot;It y to bring o our care. Instead, you co skulk in a mountain cave, telligence o remain ery to me.quot;

    quot;t deal ts mysterious to you, my Lord President, starting ions bet for one moment t I y, men y fingernails, reeking of ancient s, men ions , my Lord President, you are more stupid take me for.quot;

    tray. ray on table  t in o stay; but Fato reluctantly.

    quot;So o do?quot; said t.

    quot;I o keep il t;

    quot; danger  ; he said, handing her a glass.

    quot;O I mean. Someer, a serpent, so to speak, and I o keep ting.quot;

    quot;t;

    quot;Yes. And if you  interfered, trol. As it is, t least t ;

    quot;I  raordinary po alone.quot;

    quot;Im a,quot; said Mrs. Coulter. quot;I managed to break ? it, and o get it mended again.quot;

    t ched boy?

    quot;e kno; ly.

    quot;ell, ; s;Fra Pavel must be getting quicker.   to read all t.quot;

    Se, o take teous abstinence out on tors, too.

    quot;tell me about Lord Asriel,quot; said t. quot;tell me everyt;

    Mrs. Coulter settled back comfortably and began to tell  everyt  for a moment t sold  tress, about t t the foundries.

    Fat  moving a muscle, his lizard daemon absorbing and remembering every word.

    quot;And  ; he asked.

    quot;I stole a gyropter. It ran out of fuel and I o abandon it in tryside not far from  of t;

    quot;Is Lord Asriel actively searc;

    quot;Of course.quot;

    quot;I assume er t knife. You kno s of t troyer,quot;  on, crossing to ters. quot;ts o do, isnt it? Destroy ty? t God is dead already. Presumably, Asriel is not one of tains tion to kill ;

    quot;ell, er, quot;if   to o look at er, in time of Daniel,  of Days. ill alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to t or speak and unable to die, a rotten  is ion,  it be t merciful truest proof of our love for God, to seek  and give  of deat;

    Mrs. Coulter felt a calm exion as s out alive; but it oxicating, to speak like t to this man.

    quot;And Dust?quot; ;From t is your vie?quot;

    quot;I ,quot; s;I dont kno is. No one does.quot;

    quot;I see. ell, I began by reminding you t you are under arrest. I ts time e comfortable; no one  youre not going to get aomorro;

    at once. quot;Ser to t guest room,quot; said t. quot;And lock ;

    t guest room  least it er turned beer looked around at once for te ligting and anoted then had a horrible surprise.

    atcop of t of drawers behe door was Lord Roke.

    S and put a o steady ting cross-legged, entirely at  ;And ting me kno;

    quot;Before,quot; ;tell your daemon to calm down, or Ill disable ;

    teetanding on end. to make any normal person quail, but Lord Roke merely smiled. tered in t.

    ttle spy stood up and stretched.

    quot;Ive just spoken to my agent in Lord Asriels fortress,quot;  on. quot;Lord Asriel presents s and asks you to let  entions are.quot;

    S he bed.

    quot;Did you come o spy on me, or to ; she said.

    quot;Bots lucky for you Im  some anbaric ion do kno is, but team of scientists  rigo ;

    quot;I dont knotered or alarmed. As a matter of fact, Im exed, and Im going to sleep. If youre o c;

    il so into bed. rolled ture rail, tains, ters out of tcer, and t once.

    Lord Roke  told  racking t of all kinds of beings in tiers of ticed a concentration of . t patrols out to investigate, but so far tever it  self in impenetrable fog.

    t it best not to trouble Mrs. Coulter , ted. Let ly about tening at tc of t.

    An er s come into t noise outside t scratc t a dim liglined to t corner and stood beer hes.

    A minute  by, and turned very quietly in t  out.

    Lord Roke could see  truder  for o adjust. Finally t Brotepped in.

    iptoed to to spring, but t merely listened to Mrs. Coulters steady breato see o table.

    tery ligc on, letting a t table so closely t ouc . Mrs. Coulter  a fe into bed, a couple of coins, a ring, c Brot interested in those.

    urned to  tering a soft  of  on ters neck.

    Lord Roke moved silently along ting board tohe door.

    t crossed o o touc over tirred.

    tstretc daemon trembled at , no use at all: s least  c. turned over in ill again.

    After a minute poised like a o Mrs. Coulters neck.  Lord Roke t t tc finally ed t gently aood up.

    Lord Roke, as quick and as quiet as a mouse,  of t urned around. ed in tiptoed out and turned to follow him.

    Brotoened.

    Fat alone: Fra Pavel, trist, her

    figure stood nervously by tal th looked up.

    quot;ell done, Brot; said t. quot;Bring it  down, s;

    Fra Pavel moved some of  laid table. t over to look as Fatcknife, and t click.

    quot;A; sig.

    Lord Roke climbed to top of t  t ing it bet t.

    quot;Are ain t; he said.

    quot;I am certain,quot; came the weary voice of Fra Pavel.

    quot;And is t, Dr. Cooper?quot;

    t loook t up to t.

    quot;O; ;One single ;

    quot;Im very pleased to ,quot; said t. quot;No return t to t;

    t sagged faintly: ask  placed t t, looking up and around as o drop out of sight.

    quot;Fat,quot; said Brot;I s may I know w;

    quot;No, Brot urb you. Leave tters to us. Off you go.quot;

    took t and left, smotment. Lord Roke t of going back er just as rying to replace to see  ant to find out o.

    As t back into tened.

    quot;?quot; said tist.

    quot;Every time sioned t; t said, quot; to t. No be ready?quot;

    quot;A matter of ; said Dr. Cooper.

    quot;And t do you do ?quot;

    quot;e place ting cand, eac of genetic particles quite distinct... ell, as soon as its analyzed, tion is coded in a series of anbaric pulses and transferred to t locates terial, ts a process t actually makes use of tokes ;

    quot;Dont alarm yourself, Doctor. Fra Pavel old me t ted by means of t;

    quot;Yes. to eac. ts rig;

    quot;So onated, troyed, w;

    tist, and tant quot;Yes.quot;  on, quot;t as an atomic bomb needs a high

    explosive to force toget off tion, t to release ter pohe severance process. I was wondering...”

    quot;It doesnt matter onated, does it?quot;

    quot;No. t is t. Anyw;

    quot;And its completely ready?quot;

    quot;Nohe power, you see...”

    quot;I o t. ting station at Saint-Jean-les-Eaux ioned for our use. t you say?quot;

    quot;Yes,quot; said tist.

    quot;t out at once. Please go and see to tus, Dr. Cooper.  ready for transportation as soon as you can. tains, and torm on t;

    tist took ttle envelope containing Lyras . Lord Roke left han a shadow.

    As soon as t of ears of ts room, tairs, felt an agonizing stab in er; but rangely , to land semiconscious at ttom.

    Lord Roke  of tcy, for it oer was asleep.

    t t of to slip t  dared to try and fasten ters neck: it lay beside he pillow.

    Lord Roke pressed o  s once and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

    he envelope.

    quot;You sroy it at once,quot; old ;One single ;

    S ttle curl of dark blond hair and shook her head.

    quot;too late for t,quot; s;t from Lyra.   back some of it.quot;

    Lord Roke h anger.

    quot;; ;Aco be out of ,   it aside t;

    quot;And t it,quot; said Mrs. Coulter. quot;Still, if he bomb...”

    quot;S;

    t ening, and t, too: steps ohe room.

    Mrs. Coulter t t Lord Roke,  and leapt for top of t to urned noisily in the door.

    quot;?  ? tack Dr. Cooper?quot; said ts  fell across the bed.

    Mrs. Coulter to sruggled to sit up.

    quot;You do like to keep your guests entertained,quot; s;Is t do I o do? And w;

    teorco t ers eyes   s left her bed.

    quot;You ; ;Someone tacked a guest of t? ;

    quot;I  test idea alking about. And ;

    doo  up,  on topped, picked it up, and looked at t ing as s;But ts it doing aken taken it? s going on?quot;

    And no himself.

    Fatook a step back o his head.

    quot;Someone else must  ;  t;;

    quot;I ; s;If ts te at ;

    Fato t;take o t   of it as soon as s;

    S Lord Rokes eyes for a fraction of a second, glittering in t  once and understood exactly w s o do.