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Mrs Coulter waited till nightfall before she approached the College of St Jeroht the intention craft down through the cloud and e was a distinctive shape as of Geneva, and she soon found the spire, the dark hollow of the cloisters, the square tohere the President of the Consistorial Court of Discipline had his lodging She had visited the College three tiables and chi places, even for so slowly above the tiles, which glistened with the recent rain, she edged the ully between a steep tiled roof and the sheer wall of the tower The place was only visible from the belfry of the Chapel of the Holy Penitence nearby; it would do very well

She lowered the aircraft delicately onto the roof, letting its six feet find their own purchase and adjust the to love thisas fast as she could think, and it was so silent; it could hover above people’s heads closely enough for them to touch, and they’d never knoas there In the day or so since she’d stolen it, Mrs Coulter had mastered the controls, but she still had no idea hoas powered, and that was the only thing she worried about: she had no way of telling when the fuel or the batteries would run out

Once she was sure it had settled, and that the roof was solid enough to support it, she took off the helmet and cli up one of the heavy old tiles She joined him, and soon they had lifted half a dozen out of the way, and then she snapped off the battens on which they’d been hung, h

"Go in and look around," she whispered, and the daeh into the dark

She could hear his claws as he old-fringed black face appeared in the opening She understood at once and followed hiht she gradually saw a long attic where the dark shapes of cupboards, tables, bookcases, and furniture of all kinds had been put into storage

The first thing she did was to push a tall cupboard in front of the gap where the tiles had been Then she tiptoed to the door in the wall at the far end and tried the handle It was locked, of course, but she had a hairpin, and the lock was si at one end of a long corridor, where a dusty skylight let the at the other

And five minutes after that, they had opened ain the pantry next to the kitchen two floors below and clie was just around the corner, and as she said to the golden monkey, it was important to arrive in the orthodox way, no matter how they intended to leave

"Take your hands off uard, "and show me some courtesy, or I shall have you flayed Tell the President that Mrs Coulter has arrived and that she wishes to see him at once"

Theher teeth at the olden monkey, instantly cowered and tucked her tail stuuard cranked the handle of a telephone, and under ainto the gatehouse, wiping his palms on his robe in case she wanted to shake hands She didn’t

"Who are you?" she said

"Brother Louis," said thehis rabbit daemon, "Convener of the Secretariat of the Consistorial Court If you would be so kind - "

"I haven’t come here to parley with a scrivener," she told him "Take me to Father MacPhail And do it now"

The uard behind her blew out his cheeks with relief

Brother Louis, after trying two or three tiave up and led her in silence to the President’s rooms in the tower Father MacPhail was at his devotions, and poor Brother Louis’s hand shook violently as he knocked They heard a sigh and a groan, and then heavy footsteps crossed the floor

The President’s eyes widened as he saho it was, and he smiled wolfishly

"Mrs Coulter," he said, offering his hand "I alad to see you My study is cold, and our hospitality is plain, but co," she said, following hi him to make a little fuss and show her to a chair "Thank you," she said to Brother Louis, as still hovering, "I’ll take a glass of chocolatl"

Nothing had been offered, and she kne insulting it was to treat him like a servant, but his manner was so abject that he deserved it The President nodded, and Brother Louis had to leave and deal with it, to his great annoyance

"Of course you are under arrest," said the President, taking the other chair and turning up the lamp

"Oh, why spoil our talk before we’ve even begun?" said Mrs Coulter "I came here voluntarily, as soon as I could escape from Asriel’s fortress The fact is, Father President, I have a great deal of information about his forces, and about the child, and I cain with the child"

"My daughter is noelve years old Very soon she will approach the cusp of adolescence, and then it will be too late for any of us to prevent the catastrophe; nature and opportunity will coether like spark and tinder Thanks to your intervention, that is now far more likely I hope you’re satisfied"

"It was your duty to bring her here into our care Instead, you chose to skulk in a ence hoped to remain hidden is a reat deal that’swith the relations between a ht for one hter into the care - the care! - of a body of men with a feverish obsession with sexuality,of ancient sweat, inations would crawl over her body like cockroaches - if you thought I would expose my child to that, my Lord President, you are more stupid than you take me for"

There was a knock on the door before he could reply, and Brother Louis calasses of chocolatl on a wooden tray He laid the tray on the table with a nervous bow, s asked to stay; but Father MacPhail nodded toward the door, and the youngto do?" said the President

"I was going to keep her safe until the danger had passed"

"What danger would that be?" he said, handing her a glass

"Oh, I think you knohat I mean Somewhere there is a tempter, a serpent, so to speak, and I had to keep the"

"There is a boy with her"

"Yes And if you hadn’t interfered, they would both be under my control As it is, they could be anywhere At least they’re not with Lord Asriel"

"I have no doubt he will be looking for them The boy has a knife of extraordinary power They would be worth pursuing for that alone"

"I’ed to break it, and he ain"

The President wondered why she was s Surely she didn’t approve of this wretched boy?

"We know," he said shortly

"Well, well," she said "Fra Pavelquicker When I knew him, it would have taken him a month at least to read all that"

She sipped her chocolatl, which was thin and weak; how like these wretched priests, she thought, to take their self-righteous abstinence out on their visitors, too

"Tell "

Mrs Coulter settled back co, but he never thought for a moment that she would She told hiels, about the mines and the foundries

Father MacPhail sat withoutevery word

"And how did you get here?" he asked

"I stole a gyropter It ran out of fuel and I had to abandon it in the countryside not far from here The rest of the way I walked"

"Is Lord Asriel actively searching for the girl and the boy?"

"Of course"

"I assume he’s after that knife You know it has a naod-destroyer," he went on, crossing to theand looking down over the cloisters "That’s what Asriel is ai to do, isn’t it? Destroy the Authority? There are some people who claim that God is dead already Presumably, Asriel is not one of those, if he retains the ambition to kill him"

"Well, where is God," said Mrs Coulter, "if he’s alive? And why doesn’t he speak any of the world, God walked in the Garden and spoke with Adaan to withdraw, and he forbade Moses to look at his face Later, in the tied - he was the Ancient of Days Where is he now? Is he still alive, at soe, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a rotten hulk? And if that is his condition, wouldn’t it be the , the truest proof of our love for God, to seek hiift of death?"

Mrs Coulter felt a calet out alive; but it was intoxicating, to speak like that to this man

"And Dust?" he said "From the depths of heresy, what is your view of Dust?"

"I have no view of Dust," she said "I don’t knohat it is No one does"

"I see Well, I began by re you that you are under arrest I think it’s time we found you somewhere to sleep You’ll be quite coet away And we shall talka bell, and Brother Louis cauest room," said the President "And lock her in"

The best guest room was shabby and the furniture was cheap, but at least it was clean After the lock had turned behind her, Mrs Coulter looked around at once for theand another under the frame of the bed She disconnected them both, and then had a horrible surprise

Watching her from the top of the chest of drawers behind the door was Lord Roke

She cried out and put a hand on the wall to steady herself The Gallivespian was sitting cross-legged, entirely at his ease, and neither she nor the goldenof her heart had subsided, and her breathing had slowed, she said, "And ould you have doneme know you were here, my lord? Before I undressed, or afterwards?"

"Before," he said "Tell your daeoldenon end The scorching h to make any norlittered in the diht

The little spy stood up and stretched

"I’ve just spoken to ent in Lord Asriel’s fortress," he went on "Lord Asriel presents his compliments and asks you to let him know as soon as you find out what these people’s intentions are"

She felt winded, as if Lord Asriel had thrown her hard in wrestling Her eyes widened, and she sat down slowly on the bed

"Did you come here to spy on me, or to help?" she said

"Both, and it’s lucky for you I’m here As soon as you arrived, they set some anbaric work in motion down in the cellars I don’t knohat it is, but there’s a teaalvanized them"

"I don’t knohether to be flattered or alar to sleep If you’re here to helpthe other way"

He bowed and faced the wall until she had washed in the chipped basin, dried herself on the thin towel, and undressed and got into bed Her dae the wardrobe, the picture rail, the curtains, the view of the dark cloisters out of theLord Roke watched hiolden monkey joined Mrs Coulter, and they fell asleep at once

Lord Roke hadn’t told her everything that he’d learned froht of all kinds of beings in the air above the frontiers of the Republic, and had noticed a concentration of whatelse entirely, in the west They had sent patrols out to investigate, but so far they had learned nothing: whatever it was that hung there had wrapped itself in iht it best not to trouble Mrs Coulter with that, though; she was exhausted Let her sleep, he decided, and heout of the ake and alert

An hour after she had first come into the room, he heard a quiet noise outside the door: a faint scratch and a whisper At the saht outlined the door Lord Roke s of the chair on which Mrs Coulter had thrown her clothes

A minute went by, and then the key turned very quietly in the lock The door opened an inch, no ht went out

Lord Roke could see well enough in the di to wait for his eyes to adjust Finally the door opened farther, very slowly, and the young priest Brother Louis stepped in

He crossed hi, but the priest , looked closely to see whether she was asleep, and then turned to the bedside table