Christmas Carol 10 recto

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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 [his] the little
saucepan of gruel [two or three horizontal and one vertical lines] (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, . oOld fire guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, [and a wash stand, half 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. [With that done] Thus secured against surprise, he took
off his cravat; put on his dressing gown and slippers, and his nightcap
[??? w?he can? with] his nightcap in his hands 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 [to? get?] [?? ???? ?? ??? heat?] the least sensation of warmth from such a handfull
of fuel. The fire-place was an old one, [paved ] all round built by some Dutch
merchant, long ago, and paved all round with [queer dutch] quaint Dutch
tiles, embellished with designed to illustrate the Scriptures. [[He or It?]] was [????ing] There were Cains
[abstracted? ?t with an air of abstraction? at on??] and Abels, Pharaoh’s daughters, Pharoahs Queens of [????]
Sheba, angels angelic messengers descending ????? descending through the air on[[feather beds]] clouds like feather beds: Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, [????ing]
[of ???i?? ]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] pictures 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 lifting?] 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 [questio???] with a strange, inexplicable dread [of he knew 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 [and h??] in the house.

This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it
seemed an hour. They [all called a peal] The bells ceased as they had begun, to-
gether. They were succeeded by a clanking [??] noise, like that of deep down below; as if some person were dragging

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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 [his] the little
saucepan of gruel [two or three horizontal and one vertical lines] (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, . oOld fire guard, old shoes, two fish-baskets, [and a wash stand, half 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. [With that done] Thus secured against surprise, he took
off his cravat; put on his dressing gown and slippers, and his nightcap
[??? w?he can? with] his nightcap in his hands 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 [to? get?] [?? ???? ?? ??? heat?] the least sensation of warmth from such a handfull
of fuel. The fire-place was an old one, [paved ] all round built by some Dutch
merchant, long ago, and paved all round with [queer dutch] quaint Dutch
tiles, embellished with designed to illustrate the Scriptures. [[He or It?]] was [????ing] There were Cains
[abstracted? ?t with an air of abstraction? at on??] and Abels, Pharaoh’s daughters, Queens of [????]
Sheba, angels angelic messengers descending ????? descending through the air on[[feather beds]] clouds like feather 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 lifting?] 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 [questio???] with a strange, inexplicable dread [of he knew 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 [and h??] in the house.

This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it
seemed an hour. They [all called a peal] The bells ceased as they had begun, to-
gether. They were succeeded by a clanking [??] noise, like that of deep down below; as if some person were dragging