The evening world. Newspaper, December 23, 1915, Page 15

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The Evening W RLES fF 7 Hint i it es TE | i : STAVE Il. Spirits. 'M sure ho ts very rich, Fred,” hinted Serooge’s niece. “At least you always told me e0." “what of that, my dear?” paid Scrocee’s nephew. “His wealth is of no use to him. He don't d} any good with it. He don't make himself comfortable with it. He hasn't the natisfaction of thinking—ha, ha, ha!— that he is ever going to benefit us with it.” “I have no patience with him,” ob- served Scrooge’s niece. Scrooge’s niece’s sisters and the other ladies ex- pressed the same opinion. “Ob, I have!” sald Scrooge’s neph- ew. “I am sorry for him; I couldn't be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his il! whims? Himeelf, always, Here, he takes it into his head to dislike us, and be won't come and dine with us. What's the cons: quencé? He doesn’t lose much of @ dinner.” “Indeed, I think he es a very rood dinner,” interrup' Scrooge’s niece. Everybody else sald the sam and they must be allowed to have been competent Judges, because they had just had dinner; and, with the dgasert upon the table, were clustered round the fire by lamplight. “Well! Iam very glad to hear it,” ‘said Scrooge’s nephew, “because T hhawen't any great tach in these young housekeepers. What do you ‘opper?” "Seoer had clearly got his eye upon one of Scrooge’s niece's sisters, for he answered that a bachelor was @ wretched outcast, who had no right to express an opinion on the subject. Whereat Scrooge’s niece's sister—the ‘one with the lace tucker, not the one with the roses—blushed. “De go on, Fred,” said Scroore’s niece, clapping her hands. “He never finishes what he begins to say! He ts such a ridiculous fellow!” Scrooge’s nephew revelled in an- other langh, and as it was impossible to kéep the infection off, though the plump sister tried hard to do it with ameiling salts, his example was unan- Unously followed. . “| was only going to my ee of hew, “that the conse- fre mage pe ng ¢ dislike to us, ‘and not making merry with us. is, a6 me ink, that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm. 1am sufe he loses pleasanter comypanions than he can find in his own thoughts, either In his mouldy ol8 office or his dusty chambers, I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him, He may rail at Christ- ‘mas til he dies, but he can't help thinking better of it—I defy him—f he finds me going there, in good tem- * por, year after year, and saying ‘Uncle Bcrooge, how are you?’ If it only puts him in the véin to leave his poor clerk fifty pounds, that’s something; andl think I shook ‘him yesterday.” It was their turn to laugh now, at the notion of his shaking Scrooge. But being thoroughly good-natured, and ot much ing what they laughed at, so that thy laughed at any rato, he encouraged them in their merriment, and passed the bottle, joyously. ‘After tea, they had some music; for they were a musical family, and knew what they were about, when they sang a glee or catch, I can as- sure you jally Topper, who could growl away in tho bass like a ood one, and never swell the large veins in his forehead, or get red in the face over it. Scrooge’s niece played well upon the harp; and played, among other tunes, a simple little air (@ more nothing: you might learn to whistle it in two minutes) which had ‘yeen familiar to the child who fetched Scrooge from the boarding school, as he had been reminded by the Ghost of Christmas Past. When this strain of music sounded, ‘all the things that Ghost had shown him came upon his mind; ho softened more and more; and thought that if he would haye listened to it often, years ago, he might have cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own hap- piness with his own hands, without resorting to the sexton’s spade that buried Jacob Marley. But they didn’t devote the whole evening to music, After a while they played at forfeits; for it is good to be children some times, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Wounésr was a child Himself, Stop! ‘There was first a game at blindman's buff. Of course there was, And I no more believe Topper was really blind than I believe Le had eyes in hie boots, My opinion is, that it was a done 4 senssnnsveconsvoscssessesoncencses soeesenesens " Christmas Carol? ; “The Greatest Yuletide Story Ever Written s iv DICKENS thing between him and Scrooge’s nephew; and that the Ghost of Christ- | mas Present knew it. The way he went after that plump sister in the) lace tucker was an outrage on the credulity of humah neture, Knock- ing down the fire-irons, tumbling over the chairs, bumping up against the plano, ,smothering himself among the crbtains, wherever #he went, there went he! He always knew where the plump sister was. He wouldn't catch anybody else. It you had fallen up against him (as some of them did) on purpose, he would have made a feint of endeavor- ing to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understand. ing, and would instantly have sidled off In the direction of the plump sis- ter, She often cried out that it wasn’t fair; and it really wae not. But when, at last, he caught her, when, in spite of all her silken rust- lings, and her rapid flutterings past him, he got her into a corner whence there was no escape, then his. con- duct was the most execrable. For his pretending not to know her; his pre- tending that it was necessary to touch her headdress, and further to assure himself of her Identity by pressing @ certain ring upon her finger, and @ certain chain about her neck, was vile, monstrous! No doubt she told him her opinion of it, when, another blind man being in office, they were so very confiden- tial together, behind the curtains, Scrooge’s niece was not one of the’ diindman’s buff party, but was made comfortable with a large chair and a footstool, in a snug corner, where the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her. But she joined in the forfeits, and loved her love to admiratiea with all the letters of the alphabet. Lik wise at (he game of How, When and ‘Where, she was very great, and, to the secret joy of Scrooge’s nephew, beat her sisters hollow, though they were sharp giris, too, as Topper could have told you. : There might have been twenty peo- ple there, young and old, but they all played, and so did Scrooge; for, wholly forgetting, in the interest he had in what was going on, that his voice made no sound in their ears, he sometimes came out with his guess quite loud, and very often guessed right, too; for the sharpest needle, best Whitechapel, warranted not to cut in the eye, was‘not sharper than Berooge; blunt as he took it in his head to be. The Ghost was greatly pleased to find him tn this mood, and looked upon him with such favor that he begged like a boy to be allowed to stay until the guests departed. But this the Spirit said could not be done, “Here lag new game,” said Scrooge. “One half hour, Spirit, only one!” It was @ game called Yes and No, where Scrooge’s nephew had to think of something, and the rest must find out what; he only answering to their questions yes or no, as the case was, The brisk fire of questioning to whicn he was exposed, elicited from him that 6 was thinking of an animal, a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, @ savage animal, ap animal that growled and grunted sometimes, an! taiked sometimes, and lived in Lon don, and walked about the streets, and wasn't made a show of, and wasn't led by anybody, and didn’t live in @ menagerie, and was never killed in a market, and was not a borse, or An ass, or @ cow, or 4 cat, or @ bear, At every fresh question that was put to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of laughter; and was so inexpressibly tickled, that he wag obliged to get up off the sofa and stamp. At last the plump sister, fall- ing Into a@ similar state, cried out:— “I have found it out! I know what it is, Fred! I know what it is!" ‘What is it?” cried Fred. “It’s your Uncle Scyp-0-0-0-0go!" Which it certainly was, Admiration was the universal sentiment, though some objected that the reply to “Ie it a bear?" ought to have been ‘Ye: inasmuch as an answer in the nega- tive was sufficient to have diverted their thoughts from Mr, Scrooge, sup- posing they bad ver had any ten- dency that way, “He has given us plenty of merri- ment, 1 am sure,” said Fred, “and it would be ungrateful not to drink his health, Here is a glass of mulled wine ready to our hand at the mo- ment; and I say, ‘Uncle Scrooge!” “Well! Uncle Scrooge!" they cried. “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man, whatever he Is!” said Scrooge’s nephew. “He wouldn’, take it from me, but may he have it, nevertheless, Uncle Scrooge!" Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly be come so gay and light of heart that he would have pledged the uncon- sclous compwny in return and thanked them in audible speech if the Ghost had given him time. But the whole scene passed off in the breath of tho last word spoken by ils nephew; and he and the Spirit were again on their travels, Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they vigited, but al- ways with a happy end, The Spirit stood beside sickbedes, and they were , | orld Daily Ma aR Am gazine, Thursday, December} 23, ‘\ He FON steno Re XMAS HOLIDAYS WITH US 7 You ARE Not EXPECTING COMPANY! WHY DON'T You Go 2 SHE HAS A WIFEY, | ACCEPTED AN INVITATION FOR US To SPEND THE XMAS HOLIDAYS NEWLY MARRIED Court LOVELY Home WITH A LE MR Ano MRS FLIVVER cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and {t was rich, In almshouse, hospital, and Jail, in misery's every refuge, where vain man in his little brief authority had not made fast the door, and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and taught Scrooge his Precepts. It was a long night, if !t were only @ night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas holi- days appeared to be condensed Into the space of time they passed to- gether, It was strange, too, that while Scroogé remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had ob- served this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a children's ‘Cwelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its Whir was gray. “Are spirits’ lives so short?” asked Scrooge. “My life upon thi globe is very brief,” replied the Ghost, “It ends to-night.” “To-night!" cried Scrooge. “To-night at midnight, Hark! The time fs drawing near,” The chimes were ringing the three- quarters past eleven at that moment “Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,” sald Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe, “but I see something strange protruding from your skirts“™s tt a foot or a claw?” “It might be a clawg for the flesh there 1s upon it," was the Spirit's sor- rowful reply. “Look here.” From the follings of {ts robe it brought two children, wretched, ab- Ject, frightful, hideous, miserable, They knelt down at its feet and clung upon the outside of Its garment “O Man! look here! Look, look, down here!" exclaimed the Ghost. They were a@ boy and a girl, low, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolf- ish; but prostrate, too, in their hu- mility, Where graceful youth should haves filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelied hand, like that of age, had pinched and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds, Where angels might have sat enthro devils lurked, and glured out mene ing. No change, no degradation, no Perversion of hugianity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonder- Yel- ful creation, has monsters half so terrible and dread, Serooge startod back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fin children, but the words choked them- selves, rather than be parties to a lie of ‘Buch enormous magnitude, \ “Spirit! are they yours?” Scrooge could say no mor “They are Ma: said the Spirit, looking down upon them, “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers, This boy ts Ignorance, This girl 1s Want. Beware of them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware of this boy, for on his brow I see that written which ts Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!" cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand toward the city. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end “Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge. “Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on bim for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses The bell struck Twelve, Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, he remem- bered the prediction of old Jacob Marley, and lifting his eyes, beheid solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming, like a mist along the ground, toward him. . soar STAVE FOUR. The Last of the Spirits. HE phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached, When It came near him, Berooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. lt was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, tte face, \ts form, and left nothing of tt visible save one outstretched hand, But for this tt would have been diffi- cult to detach tts figure from the night, and separate it from the dark- ness by which {t was surrounded, He felt that {t was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that tts mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread, He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved, ARE ONE OF THE MANY THOUSAND PEOPLE WHO ARE READING THE EVENING WORLD’S Complete Novel Each Week? re robbing yourself of the richest fiction treat ever offered to the readers of a newspap: The Evening World, every week, prints a novel by some famous author, These novels are issued complete in six large daily instalments, ited with a view to suiting the t: us success of the p' In The Evening World's “COMPLETE NOVEL EACH WEEK” orice is the foremost work of such “best-seller” authors as Robert W. - Hfinot, you They are eel And the tremen Chambers, Mary Roberts Rinchart, |, Morgan Robertson, Margaret Louie Joseph equal celebrity, ©. TOHN | THEY HAVE TWELNE CHILOREN . EACH HAS SIX, ByA FORMER MARRIAGE “IT am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?” said Scrooge. ‘The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand, “You are about to show me shad- ows of the things that have not hap- pened, but will happen in the time before us,” Scrooge pursued. “Is that so, Spirit?” The upper portion of the garment Was contracted for an instant tn its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head, That was the only answer he received, Although well used to ghostly com- Pany by this time Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow {t. The spirit paused a moment, as tf observing his condition and giving him time to re- cover, But Scrooge was all the worse for this, It thrilled him with a vague un certain horror, to know that, behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he,.though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spec- tral hand and one great heap of black, “Ghost of the Futu ho ex- claimed, “I fewr you more than any spectre I have seen, But as I know your purpose 1s to do me good and as T hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart, Will you speak to me?’ It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed straight before them. “Lead on!" said Scrooge “lead on! the night !s waning fast, and it te precious time to me, 1 know, on, Spirit!” The Phantom moved away as it had come towards him. Scrooge followéd in the shadow of Its dress, which bore him up, he thought, and carried him along. They scarcely seemed to enter the City; for the City rather seemed to spring up about them, and encompass them of its own act. But there they were, in the heart of it; on Change, Lead nee, Edgar Rice Burroughs a YOU in has long Rupert Hughes, James Oliver Cur- 9 Widdemer, George Randolph Ches- ff| many others of we By. j strictly in a busine, + Maurice Ketten 1 AN So SORRY ARS NUTTY, BuT 1AM EXPECTING COMPANY MYSELF IT'S Too EXPENSIVE. SHE HAS. THREE CHILDREN AND IT MEAKS A PRESENT FOR EACH, AND ONE For. HER, AND ONE FoR HER HUSBAND. JOHN AKO! DECIDED NoT To NEXT WEEK: COMPLETE By Bertrand “So Tam told,” returned the second. “Cold, dan’t 107" “Seasonable for Christmas time. You're not @ skater, I suppose?” “No. No, Something else to think of. Good morning!” Not another word. That was thelr meeting, their conversation and their parting. Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that the Spirit should at- tach importance to conversations ap- parently #@ trivial; but feeling as- sured that they must have some hid- den purpose, he set himself to con- sider what it waa’ likely to be. They could scarcely be supposed to have any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old partner, for that was Past, and this Ghost’s province was the Future, Nor could he think of any one tmme- diately connected with himself to whom he could apply them. But nothing’ doubting that, to whomsoev they applied, they had some rary | moral for his own Improvement, he ACCEPT ANY INVITATION THAT WouLd CosTUS MORE IN PRESENTS THAN A LITRE TRIP SOUTH Tuat's WHAT. (CALL TOUGH | Luck | \Poreh. ‘the Phantom, ‘hand. resolved to, treasure up every word he heard, and everything he saw; and especially to observe the shadow of himself when It appeared. lor t had an expectation that the conduct of his future self would give him the clue he missed, and would render the solution of these riddles easy. He looked about in that very place \ tor his own image; but another man jatood in his ac ustomed corner, and though the clock pointed to his usual timo of day for being there, he saw no likeness of himself among the mul- titudes that poured tn through the It gave him little surprise, however, for he had been revolving in his mind a change of life, and thought and hoped he saw his new- born resolutions carried out in this. Quict and dark, beside him stood with Its outstretched When he roused himself from his thoughtful quest, he fancied, from the turn of the hand andl its sjtuation in reference to himself, that the Un- seen Eyes yore looking at him keenly, It made him shudder and feel very cold, ‘They left the busy sceng and went amonget the merchants; who burried up and down, and chinked thé money in thelr pockets, and conversed in groups, and looked at their watches, and trified thoughtfully with their great seals, and so forth, as Scrooge had seen them often, ‘The Spirit stopped beside one jittle knot of business men. Observing that the hand was pointed to them, Berooge advanced to lsten to their talk. “said a great fat man with @ monstrous chin, “I don’t know much about it elther way. I only know he's dead.” “When did he dt other, “Last night, T believe,” “Why, what was the matter wi him?” asked a third, taking a vast quantity of snuff out of @ very large snuff box. “I thought he'd never die.” “God knows," said the first, with a yawn. “What has he done with his money?” asked a red-faced gentleman with a pendulous excrescence on the end of his nose, that shook Hke the Kills of a turkey-cock. "LT haven't heard,” said the man with the large chin, yawning again. “Left It to bis company, perhaps. He hasn't left tt to me. That's all I know." This pleasantry was recoived with a general laugh, “It'e likely to be a very cheap fu- neral,” sald the same speaker; “for, upon my life, I don't know of any- body to go to it. Suppose we make up @ party, and volunteer?” “E don't mind going if a lunch ts provided,” observed the gentleman with the excrescence on his nose, “But I must be fed if I make one,” Another laugh. “Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all,” sald the first speaker, “for I never wear black gloves, and I never eat lunch, But I'll offer to go, tf anybody else will When | come to think of {t, I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speak whenever we met, By-by!” Speakers and listeners strolled away, and mixed with other groups Scrooge knew the men, and looked toward the Spirit for an explanation. Tho Phantom glided on into a #treet inquired an- Its finger pointed to two persons meeting, Scrooge Mstened again, thinking that the explanation might lie here, He knew these men, also, perfectly, They wero men of busl- ness; very wealthy, and of great {m- portance, He had made @ point al- ways of standing well in their esteem: in a business point of view, that ts; point of view “How are you?" said one. ‘ “How are you?” returned the other, “Well!” said the first, “Old Seratch bas got bie own at lasl, hey?” Into un cbscure part of the town, Where Scrooge had nover penetrated before, although he recognized its sit- uation and its bad repute, The ways were fou! and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the ‘people half naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Al- Jeye and archways, like so many cess- pools, disgorged thelr offenses of emell and dirt and life He ays Pic ing stree’ and e whole piaroi Meeked with crime, with filth and misery. For in this den of infamous resort there wan a low-browed, beetling shop, delow a penthouse roof, where tron, old rag® bottles, bones and reasy offal were bought, Upon the “floor within were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, gales, weights and refuse fron of all Kinds, Secrets that few would like to scrutinize were bred and hidden tn mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat and sepulchres of bones, Sitting in among the wares ho dealt in, by a charcoal stove made of old bricks, was @ gray-hatred raa- cal, nearly seventy years of age, who had screened himself from the cold ‘air without by a frowzy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters, hung upon & line, and smoked his pipe tn all the luxury of calm retirement, Serooge and the Phantom came Into the presence of this man just as & woman with a heavy bundle slunk into the shop. But she had scarcely entered when another woman, simi- larly laden, came in too; and she was closely followed by a man in faded black, who was no less Atartled by the sight of them than they had been updn the recognition of each other. After a short period of blank aston~- ishment, in which the old man with the pipe had joined them, they all three burst into a laugh, “Let the charwoman alone to be the first!” cried she who had entered first, “Let the laundress alone to be the second; and let the undertaker’s man alone to be the third, Look here, old Joe, here's a chance! If we haven't all three mot here without meaning iti" “You couldn't have met in a@ better place,” said old Joe, removing his pipe from his mouth, “Come tnto the parlor, You were made free of it long ago, you know; and the other two ajn't strangers, Stop till I shut the door of the shop, Ah! How it skreeks! There ain't such a rusty bit of metal in the place as its own hinges, 1 believe; and I'm sure there's no such old bones here as mine, Ha, ha! We're all sultable to our ealling, we're well matched, Come tnto the partor, Come tnto the parlor.” The parlor was the space behind the screen of rags. The old man raked the fire together with an old stair-rod, and having tgimmed his smoky lamp (for it was night) with the stem of his pipe put tt in his mouth again While he did this the woman w had already spoken: threw her bund! on a stool, crossing her elbows on her knees and looking with @ bold deflance at the ather two, “What odds, then? What odds, Mri Dilber?” said the woman, per- son has a right to take care of them- solyes, He always did!" “That's true, indeed!” said the laun- dress, “No man more so.” “Why, «then, don’t stand staring as if you was afraid, Woman! Who's the ao . eeneneanoneooanaenceneraree Pibvevssaeavsscesstovswevsveoenn 1915 rai wiser? We're not going to pick holes in each other's coats, | suppose? "No, indeed!" sald Mra, Dither and the man together, “We should hope not.” “Very well, then!" erled the wom- an. “That's enough, Who's the woree for the loss of a few things like these? Not a dead man, I suppose?” o, indeed,” said Mrs, Dilber, laughing. “It he wanted to keep ‘em after he was dead, a wicked old screw," pursued the woman, “why wasn't be natural in his life-time? If he had been, he'd have had somebody to look after him when he was struck with’ Death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, alone by bimeeli “It's the truest word that ever was spol id Mrs, Dilber, “It's Judgment on him." “I wish it was a little heavier judgment,” replied the woman; “and it should have been, you may depend upon it, if T could have laid my hands on anything else, Open that bundle, oid Joe, and tet me know the value of it. Speak out plati I'm not afruld to be the first, nor afraid for them to see it. We knew pretty well that we were helping ourselves, before we met here, I believe, It's no sin, Open the bundle, Joe.” But the gallantry of her friends would not allow this; and the man in faded black, mounting the breach first, produced his plunder, It was not extensive, A seal or two, a pen cil-case, a pair of sleeve-buttons, and a brooch of no great value, were all. They were severally examined and appraised by old Joe, who chalked the suns he was disposed to give for each upon the wall, and added them Up into a total when he found that there was nothing more to come. “That's your account,” sald Joe, ‘and [I wouldn't give another six- bence, if I waa to bo boiled for not. doing it. Who's next?” Z Mrs, Dilber was next. Sheets and = towels, @ little wearing apparel, two old-fashioned silver teaspoons, a pair of sugar tongs and a few boots. Her account was stated on the wall in the same manner, T always give too much to ladies. It's a weakness of mine, and that’s the way I ruin myeelf,” said old Joe. “That's your account, If you asked me for another penny, and made it an open question, I'd repent of being so Mberal, and knock off half a crown.” “And now undo my bundle, Joe,” said the first woman Joe went down on his knees for the ; greater convenience of opening it, and. having unfastened a great many knots, dragged out a large, heavy roll of some dark stuff, “What do you call this? said Joe. “Bed curtains?’ “Ah!” returned the woman, laugh- ing and leaning forward on her crossed arms, “Bed curtains!” “You don't mean to say you took ‘em down, rings and all, with him lying there?” gaid Joe, “Yes, [ do," replied the woman. “Why not?” “You were born to make your fot tune,” sald Joe, “and you'll certainly do 4t.” “I certainly shan't bold my hand, when I can get anything in it by reaching it out, for the sake of eugh # n..n as he was, I promise you, Joe," returned the woman coolly. “Don't drop that oll upon the blankets, now.” “His blankets?” said Joe “Whose el: do you think?" re- plied the woman, “He isn't likely to take cold without ‘em, I dare say.” “I hope he didn’t die of anything catching? Eh?" said old Joe, stop, ping in his work, and looking up. “Don't you be afraid of that,” re- turned the woman. “I ain't so fond of his company that I'd loiter about: him for such things, if he did, Ab! You may look through that shirt tif! your eyes ache; but you won't find a hole in it, nor a threadbare place, It's the best he bad, and a fine ons, too, They'd have wasted ‘it, if ab hadn't been for me,” “What do you call wasting of it?” asked old Joe. “Putting it on him to be buried in, to be sure,” replied the woman with a laugh. “Somebody was fool enough to do it, but I took it off again. If calico ain't good enough for such & purpose, it ain't good enough for anything. It's quite as becoming to the body, He can't look uglier than he did in that one.” Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror, As they sat grouped about their spoil, in the scanty light af?! forded by the old man's lamp, be viewed them with « detestation and disgust which’ could bardly havel been greater though they had been ebscene demons, marketing the corpse itself, “Ha, bi laughed the same wom- an, when old Joe, producing a flan- nel bag with money in tt, told out oir several gains upon the ground “This is the end of It, you see! He frightened yone away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead! Ha, ba, hal" " it!" said Serooge, shuddering from head to foot. “I seo, I see. The cave of this unhappy m my own, M olled in terror, for the acene had changed, and now he almost touched a bed--a bare, uncurtained bed, on which, beneath « rag sheet, there lay something cove up, Which, though it was dumb, ams nounced itself in awful language, (To, Be Continued, ey}

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