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.