| Christmas Carol 10 recto10
of the face to desire to do that.
Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber room. All as they should be. Nobody under
the table, nobody under the sofa; a little small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and [????] the little
saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob spoon and basin
ready Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing gown, which
was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall. Lumber-room as
usual. Old fire guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, a washing stand filled washing-stand on
three legs, and a poker.
Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in—double
locked himself in: [?] which was not his custom. [That being done] Thus secured against surprise, he took
off his cravat; put on his dressing gown and slippers, and his nightcap
[??? woke calm with his sugar and on his haunches] his nightcap; and sat down before the fire to take his gruel.
It was a very low fire and he indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. He was obliged to sit close to it, and
brood over it, before he could extract [????] [he had to ??????] the least sensation of warmth from such a handfull
of fuel. The fire-place was an old one, built [paved all round ]by some Dutch
merchant, long ago, and paved all round with [quaint dutch] quaint Dutch
tiles, [established ???? ]designed to illustrate the Scriptures. He was ???? There were Cains
[and ?? ???? in ?? ???? of stories and ??? ]and Abels, Pharaoh’s daughters, Queens of [????]
Sheba, angelic messengers descending again descending through the air on[????] clouds like feather A beds: Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, [????]
[of ???it? ]hundreds of subjects figures to attract his thoughts; and yet that face
of Marley seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet’s rod, and
swallowed up the whole. If [????] each smooth tile had been a blank at first,
with power to shape [all ???s] some picture on its surface from the [wandering] disjointed fragments
of his thoughts, old Marley's head there would have been a copy of old Marley’s
head on every one.
“Humbug!” said Scrooge; and walked across the room.
After a few several turns, he sat down again. [and he ????] As he threw his head
back in his chair, [his eye fell on] his glance happened to rest upon a bell—a disused bell—that hung in
the room, and [had long ago] communicated for some purpose now forgotten
with a[nother] chamber in the highest story of the [????] building. It was [A bell]
with great astonishment, and [great ?ailes] with a strange, inexplicable dread [of ??? not what]
that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the outset
that it scarcely made a sound; but presently soon it rang out loudly. And
so did every bell in the house.
This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it
seemed an hour. The bells ceased as they had begun, to-
gether. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging | Christmas Carol 10 recto10
of the face to desire to do that.
Sitting-room, bedroom, lumber room. All as they should be. Nobody under
the table, nobody under the sofa; a little small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and [????] the little
saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob spoon and basin
ready Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing gown, which
was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall. Lumber-room as
usual. Old fire guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, a washing stand filled washing-stand on
three legs, and a poker.
Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in—double
locked himself in: [?] which was not his custom. [That being done] Thus secured against surprise, he took
off his cravat; put on his dressing gown and slippers, and his nightcap
[??? woke calm with his sugar and on his haunches] his nightcap; and sat down before the fire to take his gruel.
It was a very low fire and he indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. He was obliged to sit close to it, and
brood over it, before he could extract [????] [he had to ??????] the least sensation of warmth from such a handfull
of fuel. The fire-place was an old one, built [paved all round ]by some Dutch
merchant, long ago, and paved all round with [quaint dutch] quaint Dutch
tiles, [established ???? ]designed to illustrate the Scriptures. He was ???? There were Cains
[and ?? ???? in ?? ???? of stories and ??? ]and Abels, Pharaoh’s daughters, Queens of [????]
Sheba, angelic messengers descending again descending through the air on[????] clouds like feather A beds: Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, [????]
[of ???it? ]hundreds of subjects figures to attract his thoughts; and yet that face
of Marley seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet’s rod, and
swallowed up the whole. If [????] each smooth tile had been a blank at first,
with power to shape [all ???s] some picture on its surface from the [wandering] disjointed fragments
of his thoughts, old Marley's head there would have been a copy of old Marley’s
head on every one.
“Humbug!” said Scrooge; and walked across the room.
After a few several turns, he sat down again. [and he ????] As he threw his head
back in his chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell—a disused bell—that hung in
the room, and communicated for some purpose now forgotten
with a chamber in the highest story of the building. It was
with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread
that as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the outset
that it scarcely made a sound; but soon it rang out loudly. And
so did every bell in the house.
This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it
seemed an hour. The bells ceased as they had begun, to-
gether. They were succeeded by a clanking noise, deep down below; as if some person were dragging |