--------------------------------------- 50A CHRISTMAS CAROLextent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at adistance, and had known that they delighted to remember him.It was a great surprise to Scrooge, while listening to the moaning ofthe wind, and thinking what a solemn thing it was to move on through thelonely darkness over an unknown abyss, whose depths were secrets asprofound as Death: it was a great surprise to Scrooge, while thus engaged,to hear a hearty laugh. It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge torecognise it as his own nephew's and to find himself in a bright, dry,gleaming room, with the Spirit standing smiling by his side, and looking atthat same nephew with approving affability.`Ha, ha.' laughed Scrooge's nephew. `Ha, ha, ha.' If you shouldhappen, by any unlikely chance, to know a man more blest in a laugh thanScrooge's nephew, all I can say is, I should like to know him too.Introduce him to me, and I'll cultivate his acquaintance.It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there isinfection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistiblycontagious as laughter and good-humour. When Scrooge's nephewlaughed in this way: holding his sides, rolling his head, and twisting hisface into the most extravagant contortions: Scrooge's niece, by marriage,laughed as heartily as he. And their assembled friends being not a bitbehindhand, roared out lustily.`Ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha.'`He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I live.' cried Scrooge'snephew. `He believed it too.'`More shame for him, Fred.' said Scrooge's niece, indignantly. Blessthose women; they never do anything by halves. They are always inearnest.She was very pretty: exceedingly pretty. With a dimpled, surprised-looking, capital face; a ripe little mouth, that seemed made to be kissed --as no doubt it was; all kinds of good little dots about her chin, that meltedinto one another when she laughed; and the sunniest pair of eyes you eversaw in any little creature's head. Altogether she was what you would havecalled provoking, you know; but satisfactory,`He's a comical old fellow,' said Scrooge's nephew,' that's the truth: and50--------------------------------------- 51A CHRISTMAS CAROLnot so pleasant as he might be. However, his offences carry their ownpunishment, and I have nothing to say against him.'`I'm sure he is very rich, Fred,' hinted Scrooge's niece. `At least youalways tell me so.'`What of that, my dear.' said Scrooge's nephew. `His wealth is of nouse to him. He don't do any good with it. He don't make himselfcomfortable with it. He hasn't the satisfaction of thinking -- ha, ha, ha. --that he is ever going to benefit us with it.'`I have no patience with him,' observed Scrooge's niece. Scrooge'sniece's sisters, and all the other ladies, expressed the same opinion.`Oh, I have.' said Scrooge's nephew. `I am sorry for him; I couldn't beangry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims. Himself, always.Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and he won't come and dinewith us. What's the consequence. He don't lose much of a dinner.'`Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner,' interrupted Scrooge'sniece. Everybody else said the same, and they must be allowed to havebeen competent judges, because they had just had dinner; and, with thedessert upon the table, were clustered round the fire, by lamplight.`Well. I'm very glad to hear it,' said Scrooge's nephew, `because Ihaven't great faith in these young housekeepers. What do you say, Topper.'Topper had clearly got his eye upon one of Scrooge's niece's sisters,for he answered that a bachelor was a wretched outcast, who had no rightto express an opinion on the subject. Whereat Scrooge's niece's sister -- theplump one with the lace tucker: not the one with the roses -- blushed.`Do go on, Fred,' said Scrooge's niece, clapping her hands. `He neverfinishes what he begins to say. He is such a ridiculous fellow.'Scrooge's nephew revelled in another laugh, and as it was impossibleto keep the infection off; though the plump sister tried hard to do it witharomatic vinegar; his example was unanimously followed.`I was only going to say,' said Scrooge's nephew,' that the consequenceof his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I think,that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm. I amsure he loses pleasanter companions than he can find in his own thoughts,either in his mouldy old office, or his dusty chambers. I mean to give him51--------------------------------------- 52A CHRISTMAS CAROLthe same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him. Hemay rail at Christmas till he dies, but he can't help thinking better of it -- Idefy him -- if he finds me going there, in good temper, year after year, andsaying Uncle Scrooge, how are you. If it only puts him in the vein to leavehis poor clerk fifty pounds, that's something; and I think I shook himyesterday.'It was their turn to laugh now at the notion of his shaking Scrooge. Butbeing thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring what they laughed at,so that they laughed at any rate, he encouraged them in their merriment,and passed the bottle joyously.After tea. they had some music. For they were a musical family, andknew what they were about, when they sung a Glee or Catch, I can assureyou: especially Topper, who could growl away in the bass like a good one,and never swell the large veins in his forehead, or get red in the face overit. Scrooge's niece played well upon the harp; and played among othertunes a simple little air (a mere nothing: you might learn to whistle it intwo minutes), which had been familiar to the child who fetched Scroogefrom the boarding-school, as he had been reminded by the Ghost ofChristmas Past. When this strain of music sounded, all the things thatGhost had shown him, came upon his mind; he softened more and more;and thought that if he could have listened to it often, years ago, he mighthave cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own happiness with his ownhands, without resorting to the sexton's spade that buried Jacob Marley.But they didn't devote the whole evening to music. After a while theyplayed at forfeits; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never betterthan at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself. Stop.There was first a game at blind-man's buff. Of course there was. And I nomore believe Topper was really blind than I believe he had eyes in hisboots. My opinion is, that it was a done thing between him and Scrooge'snephew; and that the Ghost of Christmas Present knew it. The way hewent after that plump sister in the lace tucker, was an outrage on thecredulity of human nature. Knocking down the fire-irons, tumbling overthe chairs, bumping against the piano, smothering himself among thecurtains, wherever she went, there went he. He always knew where the52--------------------------------------- 53A CHRISTMAS CAROLplump sister was. He wouldn't catch anybody else. If you had fallen upagainst him (as some of them did), on purpose, he would have made afeint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront toyour understanding, and would instantly have sidled off in the direction ofthe plump sister. She often cried out that it wasn't fair; and it really wasnot. But when at last, he caught her; when, in spite of all her silkenrustlings, and her rapid flutterings past him, he got her into a cornerwhence there was no escape; then his conduct was the most execrable. Forhis pretending not to know her; his pretending that it was necessary totouch her head-dress, and further to assure himself of her identity bypressing a certain ring upon her finger, and a certain chain about her neck;was vile, monstrous. No doubt she told him her opinion of it, when,another blind-man being in office, they were so very confidential together,behind the curtains.Scrooge's niece was not one of the blind-man's buff party, but wasmade comfortable with a large chair and a footstool, in a snug corner,where the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her. But she joined in theforfeits, and loved her love to admiration with all the letters of thealphabet. Likewise at the game of How, When, and Where, she was verygreat, and to the secret joy of Scrooge's nephew, beat her sisters hollow:though they were sharp girls too, as could have told you. There might havebeen twenty people there, young and old, but they all played, and so didScrooge, for, wholly forgetting the interest he had in what was going on,that his voice made no sound in their ears, he sometimes came out with hisguess quite loud, and very often guessed quite right, too; for the sharpestneedle, best Whitechapel, warranted not to cut in the eye, was not sharperthan Scrooge; blunt as he took it in his head to be.The Ghost was greatly pleased to find him in this mood, and lookedupon him with such favour, that he begged like a boy to be allowed to stayuntil the guests departed. But this the Spirit said could not be done.`Here is a new game,' said Scrooge. `One half hour, Spirit, only one.'It was a Game called Yes and No, where Scrooge's nephew had tothink of something, and the rest must find out what; he only answering totheir questions yes or no, as the case was. The brisk fire of questioning to53--------------------------------------- 54A CHRISTMAS CAROLwhich he was exposed, elicited from him that he was thinking of an animal,a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a savage animal, an animal thatgrowled and grunted sometimes, and talked sometimes, and lived inLondon, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show of, andwasn't led by anybody, and didn't live in a menagerie, and was never killedin a market, and was not a horse, or an ass, or a cow, or a bull, or a tiger, ora dog, or a pig, or a cat, or a bear. At every fresh question that was put tohim, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of laughter; and was soinexpressibly tickled, that he was obliged to get up off the sofa and stamp.At last the plump sister, falling into a similar state, cried out:`I have found it out. I know what it is, Fred. I know what it is.'`What is it.' cried Fred.`It's your Uncle Scrooge.'Which it certainly was. Admiration was the universal sentiment,though some objected that the reply to `Is it a bear.' ought to have been`Yes;' inasmuch as an answer in the negative was sufficient to havediverted their thoughts from Mr Scrooge, supposing they had ever had anytendency that way.`He has given us plenty of merriment, I am sure,' said Fred,' and itwould be ungrateful not to drink his health. Here is a glass of mulled wineready to our hand at the moment; and I say, "Uncle Scrooge."'`Well. Uncle Scrooge.' they cried.`A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whateverhe is.' said Scrooge's nephew. `He wouldn't take it from me, but may hehave it, nevertheless. Uncle Scrooge.'Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so gay and light of heart,that he would have pledged the unconscious company in return, andthanked them in an inaudible speech, if the Ghost had given him time. Butthe whole scene passed off in the breath of the last word spoken by hisnephew; and he and the Spirit were again upon their travels.Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, butalways with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they werecheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men,and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich. In54--------------------------------------- 55A CHRISTMAS CAROLalmshouse, hospital, and jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man inhis little brief authority had not made fast the door and barred the Spiritout, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his precepts.It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubtsof this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be condensed into thespace of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that while Scroogeremained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearlyolder. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until theyleft a children's Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as theystood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey.`Are spirits' lives so short.' asked Scrooge.`My life upon this globe, is very brief,' replied the Ghost. `It ends to-night.'`To-night.' cried Scrooge.`To-night at midnight. Hark. The time is drawing near.'The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment.`Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,' said Scrooge, lookingintently at the Spirit's robe,' but I see something strange, and not belongingto yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw.'`It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it,' was the Spirit'ssorrowful reply. `Look here.'From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject,frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung uponthe outside of its garment.`Oh, Man. look here. Look, look, down here.' exclaimed the Ghost.They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish;but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should havefilled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a staleand shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, andpulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devilslurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, noperversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries ofwonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way,55--------------------------------------- 56A CHRISTMAS CAROLhe tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves,rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.`Spirit. are they yours.' Scrooge could say no more.`They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. `And theycling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girlis Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all bewarethis boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless thewriting be erased. Deny it.' cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towardsthe city. `Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes,and make it worse. And abide the end.'`Have they no refuge or resource.' cried Scrooge.`Are there no prisons.' said the Spirit, turning on him for the last timewith his own words. `Are there no workhouses.' The bell struck twelve.Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. As the laststroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old JacobMarley, and lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped andhooded, coming, like a mist along the ground, towards him.56--------------------------------------- 57A CHRISTMAS CAROLStave 4: The Last of the SpiritsThe Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came,Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which thisSpirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery.It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, itsface, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand.But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night,and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that itsmysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more,for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.`I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.' saidScrooge.The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.`You are about to show me shadows of the things that have nothappened, but will happen in the time before us,' Scrooge pursued. `Isthat so, Spirit.'The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in itsfolds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head. That was the only answer hereceived.Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge fearedthe silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he foundthat he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. The Spirit pausesa moment, as observing his condition, and giving him time to recover.But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vagueuncertain horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostlyeyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to theutmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.`Ghost of the Future.' he exclaimed,' I fear you more than any spectre Ihave seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope tolive to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear youcompany, and do it with a thankful heart. Will you not speak to me.'57--------------------------------------- 58A CHRISTMAS CAROLIt gave him no reply. The hand was pointed straight before them.`Lead on.' said Scrooge. `Lead on. The night is waning fast, and it isprecious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit.'The Phantom moved away as it had come towards him. Scroogefollowed in the shadow of its dress, which bore him up, he thought, andcarried him along.They scarcely seemed to enter the city; for the city rather seemed tospring up about them, and encompass them of its own act. But there theywere, in the heart of it; on Change, amongst the merchants; who hurriedup and down, and chinked the money in their pockets, and conversed ingroups, and looked at their watches, and trifled thoughtfully with theirgreat gold seals; and so forth, as Scrooge had seen them often.The Spirit stopped beside one little knot of business men. Observingthat the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to their talk.`No,' said a great fat man with a monstrous chin,' I don't know muchabout it, either way. I only know he's dead.'`When did he die.' inquired another.`Last night, I believe.'`Why, what was the matter with him.' asked a third, taking a vastquantity of snuff out of a very large snuff-box. `I thought he'd never die.'`God knows,' said the first, with a yawn.`What has he done with his money.' asked a red-faced gentleman witha pendulous excrescence on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills ofa turkey-cock.`I haven't heard,' said the man with the large chin, yawning again.`Left it to his company, perhaps. He hasn't left it to me. That's all I know.'This pleasantry was received with a general laugh.`It's likely to be a very cheap funeral,' said the same speaker;' for uponmy life I don't know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a partyand volunteer.'`I don't mind going if a lunch is provided,' observed the gentlemanwith the excrescence on his nose. `But I must be fed, if I make one.'Another laugh.`Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all,' said the first58--------------------------------------- 59A CHRISTMAS CAROLspeaker,' for I never wear black gloves, and I never eat lunch. But I'll offerto go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of it, I <m not at all surethat I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speakwhenever we met. Bye, bye.'Speakers and listeners strolled away, and mixed with other groups.Scrooge knew the men, and looked towards the Spirit for an explanation.The Phantom glided on into a street. Its finger pointed to two personsmeeting. Scrooge listened again, thinking that the explanation might liehere.He knew these men, also, perfectly. They were men of aye business:very wealthy, and of great importance. He had made a point always ofstanding well in their esteem: in a business point of view, that is; strictly ina business point of view.`How are you.' said one.`How are you.' returned the other.`Well.' said the first. `Old Scratch has got his own at last, hey.'`So I am told,' returned the second. `Cold, isn't it.'`Seasonable for Christmas time. You're not a skater, I suppose.'`No. No. Something else to think of. Good morning.'Not another word. That was their meeting, their conversation, and theirparting.Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit shouldattach importance to conversations apparently so trivial; but feelingassured that they must have some hidden purpose, he set himself toconsider what it was likely to be. They could scarcely be supposed to haveany bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, andthis Ghost's province was the Future. Nor could he think of any oneimmediately connected with himself, to whom he could apply them. Butnothing doubting that to whomsoever they applied they had some latentmoral for his own improvement, he resolved to treasure up every word heheard, and everything he saw; and especially to observe the shadow ofhimself when it appeared. For he had an expectation that the conduct ofhis future self would give him the clue he missed, and would render the