A Christmas carol . spoon and basin ready ; and the littlesaucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in hishead) upon the hob. Nobody under the bed ;nobody in the closet ; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspiciousattitude against the wall. Lumber-room asusual. Old fire-guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, washing-stand on three legs, and apoker. Quite satisfied, he closed his door, andlocked himself in ; double-locked himself in,which was not his custom. Thus securedagainst surprise, he took off his cravat; puton his dressing-gown and slippers, and hisnightcap ; and sat down
A Christmas carol . spoon and basin ready ; and the littlesaucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in hishead) upon the hob. Nobody under the bed ;nobody in the closet ; nobody in his dressing-gown, which was hanging up in a suspiciousattitude against the wall. Lumber-room asusual. Old fire-guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, washing-stand on three legs, and apoker. Quite satisfied, he closed his door, andlocked himself in ; double-locked himself in,which was not his custom. Thus securedagainst surprise, he took off his cravat; puton his dressing-gown and slippers, and hisnightcap ; and sat down before the fire totake his gruel. It was a very low fire indeed ; nothing onsuch a bitter night. He was obliged to sitclose to it, and brood over it, before he couldextract the least sensation of warmth fromsuch a handful of fuel. The fireplace was anold one, built by some Dutch merchant longago, and paved all round with quaint Dutchtiles, designed to illustrate the were Cains and Abels, Pharaohs 22. H Cbrtstmas Carol daughters, Queens of Sheba, Angelicmessengers descending through theair on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams,Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea inbutter-boats, hundreds of figures, to attracthis thoughts ; and yet that face of Marley,seven years dead, came like the ancientProphets rod, and swallowed up the each smooth tile had been a blank at first,with power to shape some picture on its sur-face from the disjointed fragments of histhoughts, there would have been a copy of oldMarleys head on every one. Humbug! said Scrooge; and walkedacross the room. After several turns, he sat down again. Ashe threw his head back in the chair, hisglance happened to rest upon a bell, a disusedbell, that hung in the room, and communicatedfor some purpose now forgotten with a cham-ber in the highest story of the building. Itwas with great astonishment, and with astrange, inexplicable dread, that as he looked,he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung
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