Christmas Carol 13 recto

13

warm to wear ????? in-doors, its [jaw] lower jaw [???] dropped down upon its breast!

Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped his hands before his face.

“Mercy!” he said. “Dreadful [vision] apparition, why do you trouble me?”

“Man of the worldly mind!” replied the [sp??] Ghost. “Do you believe in me
or not?”

“I do,” said Scrooge, “I must. But why do you appear to me [? ??] spirits walk the come on earth, ["]
and why to me?”

“[Thy ??] It is required of every man,” [ returned] the Ghost returned, “that his the Spirit within him
should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide. And
if that spirit goes not forth in life it is condemned to walk [does so after Death] is condemned
to do so, after Death. [It is condemned] is [do?] doomed to wandering through the world, oh woe is me!—and witness
what it can[not?] no longer share, but might have [tried to [or kindled ??]] shared on earth [?? ???n] in life, and and turned to
Happiness!" [Means] of Happiness!”

Again [old ?] the spectre raised a hideous cry, and shook its chain, and
wrung its [??????] shadowy hands.

“You are fettered [?],” [??] said Scrooge, trembling. "Why is that [?? I ask?] “Tell me why?”

“I wear the chain I forged in Life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link
by link, and yard by yard; I put girded it about me on, of my own free will,
and of my own free will, I wore it. Is it’s pattern strange to you?”

Scrooge trembled more and more.

“Or would you know,” pursued the Ghost, “the weight and length of
[that] the strong coil you [wear] [came up an?] wear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven
[years] ago Christmases ago Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a
ponderous chain!”

Scrooge looked about glanced [????] about him on the floor, as if in the expectation
of finding himself surrounded ? by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable; but
he could see nothing.

“Jacob,” he said, [submissively?] imploringly. “Dear Old Jacob Marley, tell me more.
[Speak] comfort to me Tell me some Speak comfort to me, Jacob!”

“I have none to [???sto?] give,” the Ghost replied. “It comes from other
regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is brought conveyed by other ministers to other kinds of men. Nor can I tell
you what I would. A very little more, is all that [is] permitted to me. I [???? [must?]]
may not rest, I may not stay, I may not linger [?????] anywhere. My spirit
never walked beyond my our counting-house — you mark [me] Ebenezer me [?????]!— in life my spirit
never walked beyond [????????????????] our [???] business, and the limits of this [chain] roved beyond the narrow limits ???? of our money-changing hole; and
weary journies [???] lie before me [????]!”

It was Scroog a habit with Scrooge [when???? he] whenever he became thoughtful