Chapter 9, Theft Summary

Will and Lyra rest and clean up at the café in Cittàgazze that serves as their temporary home. Will asks Lyra to keep his father's letters in her rucksack. The cat accompanies them back to Oxford. Will has mastered the art of cutting with the knife, and he cuts directly through to the grounds outside of Sir Charles's house, then makes another cut through to Cittàgazze, from where he will make a final cut into Sir Charles's study. While Will is gone, Lyra waits and watches as Sir Charles returns with a guest: her mother, Mrs. Coulter.

Will enters the study but the alethiometer is not in the cabinet where Sir Charles placed it earlier. Lyra goes through the windows to catch up and tell him that Mrs. Coulter is with Sir Charles and that now she knows who...