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 Laoco�n 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 school-boy. I am as giddy as a
drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! 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 fire-place. "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
briliant 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 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 'em to bring it here, that I may give
them the irection 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!"