

Coulter’s dæmon-a golden monkey-is spying on them. Coulter loses her temper when Lyra insists on wearing a purse containing the alethiometer in the house, and Lyra and Pan realize that Mrs. In the morning before she leaves, the Master gives Lyra a device called an alethiometer and tells her to keep it secret. Coulter is enchanting and Lyra is thrilled when she learns that she's going to go live with her. That night, the Master invites her to dinner with him and with Mrs. Lyra is obsessed with the Gobblers but is terrified when they arrive in Oxford and steal a gyptian boy named Billy Costa and, possibly, Roger. The narrator explains how she tricked a boy named Tony Makarios. Her idyll comes to an end with the Gobblers, who begin stealing poor children and shipping them north by luring them in with a glamorous woman named Mrs. Lyra spends her time running wild around Jordan College and Oxford with her best friend, Roger. In private later, the Master tells the Librarian that he was trying to protect Lyra from Lord Asriel and from her destiny, which is to unwittingly lead someone to their sacrifice. She doesn't understand most of what he and the Scholars say, but they mention something called the panserbjørne and someone who, oddly, doesn't have a dæmon. He shows a photograph of the northern lights and a city in the lights. He allows her to stay hidden and watch his presentation about something called Dust, which he's studying in the North. When Lord Asriel himself appears, Lyra shows herself and warns him. She sees something that shocks her: the Master poisons wine intended for her beloved but terrifying uncle, Lord Asriel.

11-year-old Lyra and her dæmon, Pan, sneak into the Retiring Room at Jordan College so they can see what the Scholars do in there.
