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He was stout, ginger-haired, affable; more inclined to be friendly to Lyra than she was to return the feeling But she was always polite
"I don't knoas the dalen way They were all going mad Look!"
She held out her bespattered books He made a face
"Better get those cleaned," he said
"Well, yes," she said, "that's where I was going"
His dae froed her courteously and moved away
Lyra lived at St Sophia's in term time, but her room in the back quad at Jordan was always there when she wanted to use it The clock was striking half-past six as she hurried there with her living burden--as hter than her own daemon, as she intended to tell Pantalaimon later
As soon as the door had closed behind the on her desk and let the daehtened, and not only of the dark
"I had to keep you out of sight--" she began
"I understand Lyra Silvertongue, you uide me to a house in this city--I can't find the house, I don't know cities--"
"Stop," she said, "sloait What is your name, and your witch's name?"
"I ai She is Yelena Pazhets She sent me--I must find a man who--"
"Please," Lyra said, "please don't speak so loudly I'm safe here--this is my home--but people are curious--if they hear another daemon's voice in here, it would be hard to explain, and then you would be in danger"
The daemon fluttered anxiously to the sill, and then to the back of Lyra's chair, and then back to the table
"Yes," he said "I o to a man in this city Your nahtened this far south, and under a roof"
"If I can help, I will Who is this man? Do you knohere he lives?"
"His name is Sebastian Makepeace He lives in Jericho"
"Just Jericho? That's all the address you have?"
The daemon looked bewildered Lyra didn't press him; to a witch of the far north, a settleinably vast and crowded
"All right," she said, "I'll try and find him But--"
"Now! It's urgent!"
"No Not now Tonight, after dark Can you stay here comfortably? Or would you rather come with us toto my school, which is where I should be now?"
He flew from the table to the openand perched o
n the sill for a ether and circled in the air above the quadrangle Pantalaimon leapt onto the sill to watch for hih the untidy bookshelves for a map of the city
"Has he gone?" she said over her shoulder
"He's co back"
The daes inward to slon and perch on the back of the chair
"Danger outside and suffocation within," he said unhappily
Lyra found the map and turned around
"Sir," she said, "as it who told you my name?"
"A witch froood friend in Oxford Our clan is allied to hers through the birch-oath"
"And where is Yelena Pazhets, your witch?"
"She's lying sick beyond the Urals, in our homeland"
Lyra could feel Pan tee with questions, and she half-closed her eyes in a flicker that she knew he'd see: Don't Wait Hush
"It would be too painful for you to hide in htfall," she said, "so this is e'll do I'll leave thisopen for you and you can shelter in here, and fly out whenever you need to I shall come back atCan you read the time in our fashion?"
"Yes We learned at Trollesund"
"You can see the clock over the hall froht I shall be in the street outside the tohere you found us Fly down and meet us there, and we'll take you to Mr Makepeace"
"Yes--yes Thank you"
They shut the door and hurried down What she'd said a minute before was true: she should be in school, for dinner at seven was compulsory for all the pupils, and it was already twenty minutes to
But on the way through the lodge she was struck by a thought, and said to the Porter:
"Mr Shuter, have you got an Oxford directory?"
"Trade, or residential, Miss Lyra?"
"I don't know Both One that covers Jericho"
"What are you looking up?" said the oldher a couple of battered reference books
The Porter was a friend; he wasn't being nosy
"So to the Jericho section of the residential one "Is there a firm or a shop called Makepeace that you know of?"
"Not to e," he said