n down by
this time? No Popery, I say! I would sooner crawl to church on my
hands and knees than not go to-day, young gentlemen. And then Mr.
Hassock, the kind, good curate, to ask for me!"

"Yes, and then there is the 'coal money' given on the fifth, that all
the widows in the parish may have a good fire through the winter, you
know, Goody."

"Yes, I must go to church," said Mrs. Clackett.

"That you must," said Quidd, "and I will tell you what these young
gentlemen and I will do. We will bring down the chair, and take you
there ourselves. I am sure it would please Mr. Hassock. Would it not,
Parley?"

"Yes, and the rector also," said I. "And I have no doubt but the
churchwardens would like to see Goody at church, for the tickets for
flannel petticoats are to be given away to-day."

"What is that?" said Mrs. Clackett. "Oh, yes, I could not keep away
from my church! Good young gentlemen, I shall never forget your
kindness."

We stopped to hear no more. We were overjoyed with the success of our
plot. Away we ran to our companions, and, without stopping to explain,
cried out:

"The chair! the chair! We shall have a guy, the best in the whole
country!"

So away we ran with the chair, and all our other preparations for
dressing and tying and securing.

The whole party surrounded the chair, some pushing, some pulling.
When, however, we got within a convenient distance of the old lady's
hut, Hardy and the others stepped on one side, and placed the helmet,
coat, lantern, matches, etc., under a hedge, to be ready when
required, while Quidd, Sapskull, and myself went with the chair to the
old lady's cottage.

When we got there we found her spruce and prim with her best black
silk bonnet, something in shape like a coal-scuttle, her stick in her
hand, and her shoes on her feet. We drove up the chair in fine style.
There were several cottages close by, and the neighbors came out to
see the old lady ride. At last some one who knew Quidd said:

"Why, that is the lawyer's son. Sure enough old Goody has got some
money left her."

So then there was a talking and surmising, and before Goody got to
church it was reported all over the town that she was made the
possessor of several thousand pounds prize-money; that she was to be a
lady, and ride in her carriage. Being sent for, as it was supposed, by
the lawyer must be for something--a large legacy, no doubt.

The chair wheeled on with Goody in it. The boys looked as if t