"Well, I am the most disinterested among you,
after all," said the first speaker, "for I never wear
black gloves, and I never eat lunch. But I'll offer to
go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of it,
I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular
friend; for we used to stop and speak whenever we
met. Bye, bye!"
Speakers and listeners strolled away, and mixed
with other groups. Scrooge knew the men, and
looked towards the Spirit for an explanation.
The Phantom glided on into a street. Its finger
pointed to two persons meeting. Scrooge listened
again, thinking that the explanation might lie here.
He knew these men, also, perfectly. They were
men of business: very wealthy, and of great
importance. He had made a point always of standing
well in their esteem: in a business point of view,
that is; strictly in a business point of view.
"How are you?" said one.
"How are you?" returned the other.
"Well!" said the first. "Old Scratch has got his
own at last, hey?"
"So I am told," returned the second. "Cold, isn't
it?"
"Seasonable for Christmas time. You're not a
skaiter, I suppose?"
"No. No. Something else to think of. Good
morning!"
Not another word. That was their meeting, their
conversation, and their parting.
Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised that
the Spirit should attach importance to conversations
apparently so trivial; but feeling assured that they
must have some hidden purpose, he set himself to
consider what it was 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 immediately connected with
himself, to whom he could apply them. But nothing
doubting that to whomsoever they applied they had
some latent moral for his own improvement, he
resolved to treasure up every word he heard, and
everything he saw; and especially to observe the
shadow of himself when it appeared. For he 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 for his own
image; but another man stood in his accustomed
corner, and though the clock pointed to his usual
time of day for being there, he saw no likeness of
himself among the multitudes that poured in through
the Porch. 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.
Quiet and dark, beside him stood the Phantom,
with its outstretched hand. When he roused himself
from his thoughtful quest, he fancied from the turn
of the hand, and its situation in reference to himself,
that the Unseen Eyes were looking at him keenly. It made him shudder, and feel very cold.