Gustav Klimt Danae (detail)

definite, but it never stopped long enough for Will to make out what it was.
Then two things happened. First, Sir Charles mentioned the alethiometer.
"For example," he said, continuing what he'd been saying, "I'm very curious about this instrument. Suppose you tell me how it works."
And he placed the alethiometer on the octagonal table at the end of the sofa. Will could see it clearly; he could almost reach it.She nodded, then turned and ran away silently over the grass. Will turned back.
The woman was saying, "…the Master of Jordan a foolish old man. Why he gave it to her I can't imagine; you need several years of intensive study to make any sense of it at The second thing that happened was that the shadow fell still. The creature that was the source of it must have been perched on the back of Mrs. Coulter's chair, because the light streaming over it threw its shadow clearly on the wall. And the moment it stopped, he realized it was the woman's daemon: a crouching monkey, turning its head this way and that, searching for something.Will heard an intake of breath from Lyra behind him as she saw it too. He turned silently and whispered, "Go back to the other window, and come throughFind some stones and throw them at the study so they look away for a moment, and then I can get the alethiometer. Then run back to the other window and wait for me."