A Christmas Carol

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Page 1: May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to l...
Page 2: D. December, 1843. CONTENTS Stave I: Marley's Ghost Stave ...
Page 3: There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his...
Page 4: How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners fo...
Page 5: Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name. There it stoo...
Page 6: The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his poi...
Page 7: They often "came down" handsomely, and Scrooge never did. ...
Page 8: Once upon a time--of all the good days in the year, on Chr...
Page 9: The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he migh...
Page 10: It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so...
Page 11: Come, then," returned the nephew gaily. "What right have y...
Page 12: He should!" "Uncle!" pleaded the nephew. "Nephew!" returne...
Page 13: Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thou...
Page 14: Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety, he poked...
Page 15: He went the whole length of the expression, and said that ...
Page 16: I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot ...
Page 17: His nephew left the room without an angry word, notwithsta...
Page 18: Scrooge and Marley's, I believe," said one of the gentleme...
Page 19: At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the...
Page 20: Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they w...
Page 21: We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, ...
Page 22: Besides--excuse me--I don't know that." "But you might kno...
Page 23: The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was al...
Page 24: Poulterers' and grocers' trades became a splendid joke: a ...
Page 25: The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by t...
Page 26: You'll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?" said Scrooge. "...
Page 27: A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fift...
Page 28: He lived in chambers which had once belonged to his deceas...
Page 29: Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particula...
Page 30: Marley's face. It was not in impenetrable shadow as the ot...
Page 31: But he put his hand upon the key he had relinquished, turn...
Page 32: Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes. He faste...
Page 33: Up Scrooge went, not caring a button for that. Darkness is...
Page 34: Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in...
Page 35: If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power ...
Page 36: It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexpl...
Page 37: It's humbug still!" said Scrooge. "I won't believe it." Hi...
Page 38: It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was m...
Page 39: How now!" said Scrooge, caustic and cold as ever. "What do...
Page 40: I can." "Do it, then." Scrooge asked the question, because...
Page 41: What evidence would you have of my reality beyond that of ...
Page 42: The truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a means of dis...
Page 43: I do," replied the Ghost. "You are not looking at it," sai...
Page 44: But how much greater was his horror, when the phantom taki...
Page 45: It is doomed to wander through the world--oh, woe is me!--...
Page 46: Is its pattern strange to you?" Scrooge trembled more and ...
Page 47: Speak comfort to me, Jacob!" "I have none to give," the Gh...
Page 48: You must have been very slow about it, Jacob," Scrooge obs...
Page 49: The Ghost, on hearing this, set up another cry, and clanke...
Page 50: Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Man...
Page 51: Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eye...
Page 52: I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day." It w...
Page 53: Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?" he dema...
Page 54: The third upon the next night when the last stroke of Twel...
Page 55: It beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did. When they w...
Page 56: Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some fe...
Page 57: Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which ...
Page 58: He was endeavouring to pierce the darkness with his ferret...
Page 59: It isn't possible that anything has happened to the sun, a...
Page 60: The more he thought, the more perplexed he was; and the mo...
Page 61: At length it broke upon his listening ear. "Ding, dong!" "...
Page 62: Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the cur...
Page 63: Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was...
Page 64: For as its belt sparkled and glittered now in one part and...
Page 65: Singularly low, as if instead of being so close beside him...
Page 66: He then made bold to inquire what business brought him the...
Page 67: Take heed!" It put out its strong hand as it spoke, and cl...
Page 68: The city had entirely vanished. Not a vestige of it was to...
Page 69: He was conscious of a thousand odours floating in the air,...
Page 70: Let us go on." They walked along the road, Scrooge recogni...
Page 71: Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them! Why did...
Page 72: It was a large house, but one of broken fortunes; for the ...
Page 73: Not a latent echo in the house, not a squeak and scuffle f...
Page 74: It's dear old honest Ali Baba! Yes, yes, I know! One Chris...
Page 75: Green body and yellow tail, with a thing like a lettuce gr...
Page 76: Nothing," said Scrooge. "Nothing. There was a boy singing ...
Page 77: Scrooge looked at the Ghost, and with a mournful shaking o...
Page 78: And you're to be a man!" said the child, opening her eyes,...
Page 79: He then conveyed him and his sister into the veriest old w...
Page 80: Always a delicate creature, whom a breath might have withe...
Page 81: Although they had but that moment left the school behind t...
Page 82: At sight of an old gentleman in a Welsh wig, sitting behin...
Page 83: Dick Wilkins, to be sure!" said Scrooge to the Ghost. "Ble...
Page 84: Clear away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here! Hil...
Page 85: In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable. In ...
Page 86: But scorning rest, upon his reappearance, he instantly beg...
Page 87: Then old Fezziwig stood out to dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. T...
Page 88: When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up....
Page 89: It was not until now, when the bright faces of his former ...
Page 90: Is that so much that he deserves this praise?" "It isn't t...
Page 91: No," said Scrooge, "No. I should like to be able to say a ...
Page 92: He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young girl...
Page 93: There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and th...
Page 94: It was made when we were both poor and content to be so, u...
Page 95: In everything that made my love of any worth or value in y...
Page 96: With a full heart, for the love of him you once were." He ...
Page 97: Spirit!" said Scrooge, "show me no more! Conduct me home. ...
Page 98: The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous, for there...
Page 99: And yet I should have dearly liked, I own, to have touched...
Page 100: It is enough that by degrees the children and their emotio...
Page 101: Belle," said the husband, turning to his wife with a smile...
Page 102: Scrooge it was. I passed his office window; and as it was ...
Page 103: Leave me! Take me back. Haunt me no longer!" In the strugg...
Page 104: He gave the cap a parting squeeze, in which his hand relax...
Page 105: For he wished to challenge the Spirit on the moment of its...
Page 106: Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any...
Page 107: This idea taking full possession of his mind, he got up so...
Page 108: Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were tur...
Page 109: He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been; and though the ...
Page 110: Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sw...
Page 111: The Ghost of Christmas Present rose. "Spirit," said Scroog...
Page 112: The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blac...
Page 113: There was nothing very cheerful in the climate or the town...
Page 114: There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish Onion...
Page 115: The Grocers'! oh, the Grocers'! nearly closed, with perhap...
Page 116: But soon the steeples called good people all, to church an...
Page 117: The sight of these poor revellers appeared to interest the...
Page 118: Is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle from your...
Page 119: I!" cried the Spirit. "You would deprive them of their mea...
Page 120: It has been done in your name, or at least in that of your...
Page 121: And perhaps it was the pleasure the good Spirit had in sho...
Page 122: And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing ...
Page 123: Cratchit. "And your brother, Tiny Tim! And Martha warn't a...
Page 124: Cratchit. "Sit ye down before the fire, my dear, and have ...
Page 125: Cratchit. "Not coming!" said Bob, with a sudden declension...
Page 126: Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, an...
Page 127: Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose t...
Page 128: At last the dishes were set on, and grace was said. It was...
Page 129: Cratchit left the room alone--too nervous to bear witnesse...
Page 130: Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too...
Page 131: Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in wha...
Page 132: Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved t...
Page 133: What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and ...
Page 134: But he raised them speedily, on hearing his own name. "Mr....
Page 135: I'll drink his health for your sake and the Day's," said M...
Page 136: The two young Cratchits laughed tremendously at the idea o...
Page 137: There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a ha...
Page 138: There all the children of the house were running out into ...
Page 139: Down in the west the setting sun had left a streak of fier...
Page 140: What place is this?" asked Scrooge. "A place where Miners ...
Page 141: So surely as they raised their voices, the old man got qui...
Page 142: But even here, two men who watched the light had made a fi...
Page 143: And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, h...
Page 144: Ha, ha, ha!" If you should happen, by any unlikely chance,...
Page 145: And their assembled friends being not a bit behindhand, ro...
Page 146: Altogether she was what you would have called provoking, y...
Page 147: I have no patience with him," observed Scrooge's niece. Sc...
Page 148: What do you say, Topper?" Topper had clearly got his eye u...
Page 149: I was only going to say," said Scrooge's nephew, "that the...
Page 150: But being thoroughly good-natured, and not much caring wha...
Page 151: But they didn't devote the whole evening to music. After a...
Page 152: He wouldn't catch anybody else. If you had fallen up again...
Page 153: Scrooge's niece was not one of the blind-man's buff party,...
Page 154: The Ghost was greatly pleased to find him in this mood, an...
Page 155: At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew b...
Page 156: Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some object...
Page 157: He wouldn't take it from me, but may he have it, neverthel...
Page 158: It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge ...
Page 159: To-night!" cried Scrooge. "To-night at midnight. Hark! The...
Page 160: They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of...
Page 161: Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they...
Page 162: Are there no prisons?" said the Spirit, turning on him for...
Page 163: It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed i...
Page 164: You are about to show me shadows of the things that have n...
Page 165: It thrilled him with a vague uncertain horror, to know tha...
Page 166: Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time...
Page 167: Observing that the hand was pointed to them, Scrooge advan...
Page 168: I haven't heard," said the man with the large chin, yawnin...
Page 169: Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all," s...
Page 170: They were men of business: very wealthy, and of great impo...
Page 171: No. Something else to think of. Good morning!" Not another...
Page 172: For he had an expectation that the conduct of his future s...
Page 173: It made him shudder, and feel very cold. They left the bus...
Page 174: Secrets that few would like to scrutinise were bred and hi...
Page 175: Let the charwoman alone to be the first!" cried she who ha...
Page 176: Come into the parlour." The parlour was the space behind t...
Page 177: Why then, don't stand staring as if you was afraid, woman;...
Page 178: It's the truest word that ever was spoke," said Mrs. Dilbe...
Page 179: It was not extensive. A seal or two, a pencil-case, a pair...
Page 180: It's a weakness of mine, and that's the way I ruin myself,...
Page 181: Yes I do," replied the woman. "Why not?" "You were born to...
Page 182: Don't you be afraid of that," returned the woman. "I an't ...
Page 183: Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror. As they sat g...
Page 184: The room was very dark, too dark to be observed with any a...
Page 185: He thought of it, felt how easy it would be to do, and lon...
Page 186: He thought, if this man could be raised up now, what would...
Page 187: I understand you," Scrooge returned, "and I would do it, i...
Page 188: At length the long-expected knock was heard. She hurried t...
Page 189: Bad," he answered. "We are quite ruined?" "No. There is ho...
Page 190: What the half-drunken woman whom I told you of last night,...
Page 191: Let me see some tenderness connected with a death," said S...
Page 192: The mother and her daughters were engaged in sewing. But s...
Page 193: It makes them weak by candle-light; and I wouldn't show we...
Page 194: Often." "And so have I," exclaimed another. So had all. "B...
Page 195: He looked at the work upon the table, and praised the indu...
Page 196: There was a chair set close beside the child, and there we...
Page 197: Knew what, my dear?" "Why, that you were a good wife," rep...
Page 198: Cratchit. "You would be surer of it, my dear," returned Bo...
Page 199: And I know," said Bob, "I know, my dears, that when we rec...
Page 200: I know it, but I know not how. Tell me what man that was w...
Page 201: The house is yonder," Scrooge exclaimed. "Why do you point...
Page 202: It was a worthy place. Walled in by houses; overrun by gra...
Page 203: Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if p...
Page 204: Spirit!" he cried, tight clutching at its robe, "hear me! ...
Page 205: I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The ...
Page 206: The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happie...
Page 207: They are here--I am here--the shadows of the things that w...
Page 208: There's the saucepan that the gruel was in!" cried Scrooge...
Page 209: I don't know anything. I'm quite a baby. Never mind. I don...
Page 210: EH?" returned the boy, with all his might of wonder. "What...
Page 211: An intelligent boy!" said Scrooge. "A remarkable boy! Do y...
Page 212: Go and buy it, and tell 'em to bring it here, that I may g...
Page 213: As he stood there, waiting his arrival, the knocker caught...
Page 214: Shaving was not an easy task, for his hand continued to sh...
Page 215: He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three ...
Page 216: Scrooge?" "Yes," said Scrooge. "That is my name, and I fea...
Page 217: Come and see me. Will you come and see me?" "I will!" crie...
Page 218: But he made a dash, and did it: "Is your master at home, m...
Page 219: They were looking at the table (which was spread out in gr...
Page 220: He was at home in five minutes. Nothing could be heartier....
Page 221: He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his pen,...
Page 222: And therefore," he continued, leaping from his stool, and ...
Page 223: He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who d...
Page 224: His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him. ...