ne
life's opportunities misused! Yet I was like this man; I once was like
this man!"

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge,
who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!" cried the ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my
business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy,
forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade
were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business."

Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the spectre going on at this
rate, and began to quake exceedingly.

"Hear me! My time is nearly gone."

"I will. But don't be hard upon me! Don't be flowery, Jacob! Pray!"

"I am here to-night to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of
escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer."

"You were always a good friend to me. Thank'ee!"

"You will be haunted by Three Spirits."

"Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob? I--I think I'd rather
not."

"Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect
the first to-morrow night, when the bell tolls One. Expect the second on
the next night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night, when
the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more;
and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between
us!"

It walked backward from him; and at every step it took, the window
raised itself a little, so that, when the apparition reached it, it was
wide open.

Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had
entered. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands,
and the bolts were undisturbed. Scrooge tried to say, "Humbug!" but
stopped at the first syllable. And being, from the emotion he had
undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the invisible
world, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the
hour, much in need of repose, he went straight to bed, without
undressing, and fell asleep on the instant.

STAVE TWO

THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS

When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that, looking out of bed, he could
scarcely distinguish the transparent window from the opaque walls of his
chamber, until suddenly the church clock tolled a deep, dull, hollow,
melancholy ONE.

Light flashed up in the room upon the instant, and the curtains of his
bed were drawn aside by a strange figure,--like a child: