Stave 5:

The End of It



Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own,

the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time

before him was his own, to make amends in!



`I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.'

Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. `The Spirits

of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley.

Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this. I say

it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees.'



He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions,

that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his

call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the

Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.



`They are not torn down.' cried Scrooge, folding one of

his bed-curtains in his arms,' they are not torn down, rings

and all. They are here -- I am here -- the shadows of the

things that would have been, may be dispelled. They will

be. I know they will.'



His hands were busy with his garments all this time;

turning them inside out, putting them on upside down,

tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties to every

kind of extravagance.



`I don't know what to do.' cried Scrooge, laughing and

crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoon of

himself with his stockings. `I am as light as a feather, I

am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I

am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to

everybody. A happy New Year to all the world. Hallo

here. Whoop. Hallo.'



He had frisked into the sitting-room, and was now standing

there: perfectly winded.



`There's the saucepan that the gruel was in.' cried

Scrooge, starting off again, and going round the fireplace.

`There's the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley

entered. There's the corner where the Ghost of Christmas

Present, sat. There's the window where I saw the wandering

Spirits. It's all right, it's all true, it all happened.

Ha ha ha.'



Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so

many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh.

The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.



`I don't know what day of the month it is.' said

Scrooge. `I don't know how long I've been among the

Spirits. I don't know anything. I'm quite a baby. Never

mind. I don't care. I'd rather be a baby. Hallo. Whoop.

Hallo here.'



He was checked in his transports by the churches ringing

out the lustiest peals he had ever heard. Clash, clang,

hammer; ding, dong, bell. Bell, dong, ding; hammer, clang,

clash. Oh, glorious, glorious.



Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his

head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold;

cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight;

Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious.

Glorious.



`What's to-day.' cried Scrooge, calling downward to a

boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look

about him.



`Eh.' returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.



`What's to-day, my fine fellow.' said Scrooge.



`To-day.' replied the boy. `Why, Christmas Day.'



`It's Christmas Day.' said Scrooge to himself. `I

haven't missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night.

They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of

course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow.'



`Hallo.' returned the boy.



`Do you know the Poulterer's, in the next street but one,

at the corner.' Scrooge inquired.



`I should hope I did,' replied the lad.



`An intelligent boy.' said Scrooge. `A remarkable boy.

Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkey that

was hanging up there -- Not the little prize Turkey: the

big one.'



`What, the one as big as me.' returned the boy.



`What a delightful boy.' said Scrooge. `It's a pleasure

to talk to him. Yes, my buck.'



`It's hanging there now,' replied the boy.



`Is it.' said Scrooge. `Go and buy it.'



`Walk-er.' exclaimed the boy.



`No, no,' said Scrooge, `I am in earnest. Go and buy

it, and tell them to bring it here, that I may give them the

direction where to take it. Come back with the man, and

I'll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than

five minutes and I'll give you half-a-crown.'



The boy was off like a shot. He must have had a steady

hand at a trigger who could have got a shot off half so fast.



`I'll send it to Bon Cratchit's.' whispered Scrooge,

rubbing his hands, and splitting with a laugh. `He shan't

know who sends it. It's twice the size of Tiny Tim. Joe

Miller never made such a joke as sending it to Bob's

will be.'



The hand in which he wrote the address was not a steady

one, but write it he did, somehow, and went down-stairs to

open the street door, ready for the coming of the poulterer's

man. As he stood there, waiting his arrival, the knocker

caught his eye.



`I shall love it, as long as I live.' cried Scrooge, patting

it with his hand. `I scarcely ever looked at it before.

What an honest expression it has in its face. It's a

wonderful knocker. -- Here's the Turkey. Hallo. Whoop.

How are you. Merry Christmas.'



It was a Turkey. He never could have stood upon his

legs, that bird. He would have snapped them short off in a

minute, like sticks of sealing-wax.



`Why, it's impossible to carry that to Camden Town,'

said Scrooge. `You must have a cab.'



The chuckle with which he said this, and the chuckle with

which he paid for the Turkey, and the chuckle with which

he paid for the cab, and the chuckle with which he recompensed

the boy, were only to be exceeded by the chuckle

with which he sat down breathless in his chair again, and

chuckled till he cried.



Shaving was not an easy task, for his hand continued to

shake very much; and shaving requires attention, even when

you don't dance while you are at it. But if he had cut the

end of his nose off, he would have put a piece of

sticking-plaister

over it, and been quite satisfied.



He dressed himself all in his best, and at last got out

into the streets. The people were by this time pouring forth,

as he had seen them with the Ghost of Christmas Present;

and walking with his hands behind him, Scrooge regarded

every one with a delighted smile. He looked so irresistibly

pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humoured fellows

said,' Good morning, sir. A merry Christmas to you.'

And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe

sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.



He had not gone far, when coming on towards him he

beheld the portly gentleman, who had walked into his

counting-house the day before, and said,' Scrooge and Marley's, I

believe.' It sent a pang across his heart to think how this

old gentleman would look upon him when they met; but he

knew what path lay straight before him, and he took it.



`My dear sir,' said Scrooge, quickening his pace, and

taking the old gentleman by both his hands. `How do you

do. I hope you succeeded yesterday. It was very kind of

you. A merry Christmas to you, sir.'



`Mr Scrooge.'



`Yes,' said Scrooge. `That is my name, and I fear it

may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to ask your pardon.

And will you have the goodness' -- here Scrooge whispered in

his ear.



`Lord bless me.' cried the gentleman, as if his breath

were taken away. `My dear Mr Scrooge, are you serious.'



`If you please,' said Scrooge. `Not a farthing less. A

great many back-payments are included in it, I assure you.

Will you do me that favour.'



`My dear sir,' said the other, shaking hands with him.

`I don't know what to say to such munificence.'



`Don't say anything please,' retorted Scrooge. `Come

and see me. Will you come and see me.'



`I will.' cried the old gentleman. And it was clear he

meant to do it.



`Thank you,' said Scrooge. `I am much obliged to you.

I thank you fifty times. Bless you.'



He went to church, and walked about the streets, and

watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children

on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into

the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows, and found

that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never

dreamed that any walk -- that anything -- could give him so

much happiness. In the afternoon he turned his steps

towards his nephew's house.



He passed the door a dozen times, before he had the

courage to go up and knock. But he made a dash, and

did it:



`Is your master at home, my dear.' said Scrooge to the

girl. Nice girl. Very.



`Yes, sir.'



`Where is he, my love.' said Scrooge.



`He's in the dining-room, sir, along with mistress. I'll

show you up-stairs, if you please.'



`Thank you. He knows me,' said Scrooge, with his hand

already on the dining-room lock. `I'll go in here, my dear.'



He turned it gently, and sidled his face in, round the door.

They were looking at the table (which was spread out in

great array); for these young housekeepers are always nervous

on such points, and like to see that everything is right.



`Fred.' said Scrooge.



Dear heart alive, how his niece by marriage started.

Scrooge had forgotten, for the moment, about her sitting

in the corner with the footstool, or he wouldn't have done

it, on any account.



`Why bless my soul.' cried Fred,' who's that.'



`It's I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner.

Will you let me in, Fred.'



Let him in. It is a mercy he didn't shake his arm off.

He was at home in five minutes. Nothing could be heartier.

His niece looked just the same. So did Topper when he

came. So did the plump sister when she came. So did

every one when they came. Wonderful party, wonderful

games, wonderful unanimity, wonderful happiness.



But he was early at the office next morning. Oh, he was

early there. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob

Cratchit coming late. That was the thing he had set his

heart upon.



And he did it; yes, he did. The clock struck nine. No

Bob. A quarter past. No Bob. He was full eighteen

minutes and a half behind his time. Scrooge sat with his

door wide open, that he might see him come into the Tank.



His hat was off, before he opened the door; his comforter

too. He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his

pen, as if he were trying to overtake nine o'clock.



`Hallo.' growled Scrooge, in his accustomed voice, as

near as he could feign it. `What do you mean by coming

here at this time of day.'



`I am very sorry, sir,' said Bob. `I am behind my time.'



`You are.' repeated Scrooge. `Yes. I think you are.

Step this way, sir, if you please.'



`It's only once a year, sir,' pleaded Bob, appearing from

the Tank. `It shall not be repeated. I was making rather

merry yesterday, sir.'



`Now, I'll tell you what, my friend,' said Scrooge,' I

am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And

therefore,' he continued, leaping from his stool, and giving

Bob such a dig in the waistcoat that he staggered back into

the Tank again;' and therefore I am about to raise your

salary.'



Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the ruler. He

had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it,

holding him, and calling to the people in the court for help

and a strait-waistcoat.



`A merry Christmas, Bob,' said Scrooge, with an earnestness

that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the

back. `A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I

have given you for many a year. I'll raise your salary, and

endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss

your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of

smoking bishop, Bob. Make up the fires, and buy another

coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit.'



Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and

infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was

a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a

master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or

any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old

world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him,

but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was

wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this

globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill

of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these

would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they

should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in

less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was

quite enough for him.



He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon

the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was

always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas

well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that

be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim

observed, God bless Us, Every One!

****

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