An impressive silence ensued. Then a shadow crossed Ned's ink-streaked face, which was the paler because of the fading of his freckles, natural concomitant of his red hair, by reason of his indoor work. "Now look at me!" the devil resumed in a tone calculated to invite contrast. "I hev ter stay cooped up 'ere half the day an' nigh all night, an' I work an' work, an' I pays all my wages over ter my mother; I never keep a cent for myself. I ain't grudgin' her nor my little sister neither--but ain't I goin' ter see inside a theaytre never no more?" He thrust his hands into his empty pockets. His heart was swelling. He breathed hard. Suddenly Pete, his thin lips askew, his eyes narrowed to the merest slits, till it seemed surprising that so much slyness could look out thence, nodded his head again and again, till the motion seemed automatic, as if he were a queer bit of bobbing machinery. "What d' ye mean by that?" cried Edward, observing him dubiously, mystified and in some sort offended by this enigmatic dumb show. Pete's bullet head became stationary; pride and munificence were alike expressed in his features. "_I_ kin give ye a free pass ter the theaytre," he declared with magnified importance. "I'm the boss,--an' don't ye forget it." "Wha'--wha'--wha' say?" stuttered Ned excitedly. Pete glanced apprehensively over his shoulder in the closing twilight. "D' ye know Gorham's theaytre?" he asked. Edward nodded. "It's got a window,--a back window,--what ain't more 'n eight feet off 'n the ground." Pete made this announcement in a mysterious gurgling whisper. Edward stared. "Ef ye'll boost me, I'll lean out an' reach down an' give ye a lift," Pete explained. The devil stood aghast at this bold scheme. "S'pose the play-actors war ter nab us?" he suggested in an appalled staccato. Pete snapped scornful fingers in the air. "Then we'll be put out o' the door, an' that's the way the tony folks goes out what ain't obleeged to come in at the window."