gerous
fire, an' I'm as cold as a snowball.

MRS. COTTER (_with her back to the door behind which
Padna and Micus are hiding_) There's a fine fire up-stairs
in the sittin'-room.

HEAD (_draws a chair and sits down_)
Thank ye, ma'am, but 'tisn't worth me while goin'
up-stairs. As I said before, I wouldn't trouble you at
all only for the Inspector, an' like Nelson, he expects
every one to do their duty.

MRS. COTTER
'Tis a hard world.

HEAD
An' a cold world too. I often feels cold on a summer
day.

MRS. COTTER
That's too bad! Is there no cure for it?

HEAD
They say there's a cure for everything.

MRS. COTTER
I wonder if ye took a drop o' "Wise's" ten-year-old!
It might help to warm ye, if ye sat be the fire up-stairs.

HEAD (_brightening up_)
Now, 'pon me word, but that's strange! I was just
thinkin' o' the same thing meself. That's what's
called telepattery or thought transference.

MRS. COTTER
Tella--what, Head?

HEAD (_with confidence_)
Telepattery, ma'am. 'Tis like this: I might be in
America--

MRS. COTTER
I wish you were--

HEAD (_with a look of surprise_)
What's that, ma'am?

MRS. COTTER
I wish for your own sake that you were in a country
where you would get better paid for your work.

HEAD (_satisfied_)
Thank ye, ma'am. I suppose min like meself must
wait till we go to the other world to get our reward.

MRS. COTTER
Very likely!

HEAD
Well, as I was sayin', I might be in America, or New
York, Boston, Chicago, or any o' thim foreign places,
an' you might be in this very house, or up in your
sister's house, or takin' a walk down the town, an'
I'd think o' some thought, an' at that very second
you'd think o' the same thought, an' nayther of us
would know that we were both thinkin' o' the same
thing. That's tellepattery, ma'am.

MRS. COTTER
'Tis a surprisin' thing, surely! Is it hot or cold you'll
have the whiskey, Head?

HEAD
Cold, if ye please.

[_Exit Mrs. Cotter. While she is away, he walks up
and down whistling some popular air. Enter Mrs.
Cotter._

MRS. COTTER
Will I bring it up-stairs for you?

HEAD
Indeed, I'm givin' you too much trouble as it is. I'll
try an' take it where I am. (_Takes glass and tastes_)
That is good stuff.

MRS. COTTER
I'm glad you like it.

HEAD
Who wouldn't like it?

MRS. COTTER
I don't know the taste of it.

HEAD (_as he finishes contents of glass_)
May ye be always so, though there's nothin' like it
all the same. (_Handing co