The Golden Compass

Book one of "His Dark Materials" trilogy

"Why on earth should she?" he said. "Why should a distand theological riddle interest a healthy, thoughtless child?"

"Because of what she must experiencde. Part of that includes a great betrayal..."

"Who's going to betray her?"

"No, no, that's the saddest thing. she will be the betrayer, and the experience will be terrible. She mustn't know that, of course, but there's no reason for her not to know about the problem of Dust. And you might be wrong, Chrales; she might well take an interest in it, if it were explained in a simple way. And it might help her later on. It would certainly help me to be less anxious about her."

"That's the duty of the old," said the Librarian, "to be anxious on behalf of the young. And the duty of the young is to scorn the anxiety of the old."

They sat for a while longer, and then parted, for it was late, and they were old and anxious.