ll the people, if
any question be made, that it is for thy health, and that so the
physician orders thee to do. And, sweet one, when thou shalt find thy
pipe getting low, go apart into some corner, and (first filling
thyself with smoke) cry sharply,--'Dickon, a fresh pipe of
tobacco!'--and--'Dickon, another coal for my pipe!'--and have it into
thy pretty mouth as speedily as may be. Else, instead of a gallant
gentleman, in a gold-laced coat, thou wilt be but a jumble of sticks and
tattered clothes, and a bag of straw, and a withered pumpkin! Now
depart, my treasure, and good luck go with thee!"

"Never fear, mother!" said the figure, in a stout voice, and sending
forth a courageous whiff of smoke. "I will thrive if an honest man and a
gentleman may!"

"Oh, thou wilt be the death of me!" cried the old witch, convulsed with
laughter. "That was well said. If an honest man and a gentleman may!
Thou playest thy part to perfection. Get along with thee for a smart
fellow; and I will wager on thy head, as a man of pith and substance,
with a brain, and what they call a heart, and all else that a man should
have, against any other thing on two legs. I hold myself a better witch
than yesterday, for thy sake. Did not I make thee? And I defy any witch
in New England to make such another! Here; take my staff along with
thee!"

The staff, though it was but a plain oaken stick, immediately took the
aspect of a gold-headed cane.

"That gold head has as much sense in it as thine own," said Mother
Rigby, "and it will guide thee straight to worshipful Master Gookin's
door. Get thee gone, my pretty pet, my darling, my precious one, my
treasure; and if any ask thy name, it is Feathertop. For thou hast a
feather in thy hat, and I have thrust a handful of feathers into the
hollow of thy head, and thy wig, too, is of the fashion they call
Feathertop,--so be Feathertop thy name!"

And, issuing from the cottage, Feathertop strode manfully towards town.
Mother Rigby stood at the threshold, well pleased to see how the
sunbeams glistened on him, as if all his magnificence were real, and how
diligently and lovingly he smoked his pipe, and how handsomely he
walked, in spite of a little stiffness of his legs. She watched him,
until out of sight, and threw a witch-benediction after her darling,
when a turn of the road snatched him from her view.

Betimes in the forenoon, when the principal street of the neighboring
town was just at its acme of l