A CHRISTMAS CAROL (IN PROSE BEING, A Ghost Story of Christmas)<\/p>\n
by Charles Dickens<\/p>\n
(OCF editing – Part 11)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“My time grows short,” observed the Spirit. “Quick!”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This was not addressed to Scrooge, or to any one whom he<\/strong><\/p>\n could see, but it produced an immediate effect. For again<\/strong><\/p>\n Scrooge saw himself. He was older now; a man in the prime<\/strong><\/p>\n of life. His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later<\/strong><\/p>\n years; but it had begun to wear the signs of care and avarice.<\/strong><\/p>\n There was an eager, greedy, restless motion in the eye, which<\/strong><\/p>\n showed the passion that had taken root, and where the<\/strong><\/p>\n shadow of the growing tree would fall.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young<\/strong><\/p>\n girl in a mourning-dress: in whose eyes there were tears,<\/strong><\/p>\n which sparkled in the light that shone out of the Ghost of<\/strong><\/p>\n Christmas Past.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “It matters little,” she said, softly. “To you, very little.<\/strong><\/p>\n Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort<\/strong><\/p>\n you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have<\/strong><\/p>\n no just cause to grieve.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “What Idol has displaced you?” he rejoined.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “A golden one.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “This is the even-handed dealing of the world!” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n “There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty; and<\/strong><\/p>\n there is nothing it professes to condemn with such severity<\/strong><\/p>\n as the pursuit of wealth!”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently.<\/strong><\/p>\n “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being<\/strong><\/p>\n beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your<\/strong><\/p>\n nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion,<\/strong><\/p>\n Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “What then?” he retorted. “Even if I have grown so<\/strong><\/p>\n much wiser, what then? I am not changed towards you.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n She shook her head.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “Am I?”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “Our contract is an old one. It was made when we were<\/strong><\/p>\n both poor and content to be so, until, in good season, we could<\/strong><\/p>\n improve our worldly fortune by our patient industry. You<\/strong><\/p>\n are changed. When it was made, you were another man.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “I was a boy,” he said impatiently.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “Your own feeling tells you that you were not what you<\/strong><\/p>\n are,” she returned. “I am. That which promised happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that<\/strong><\/p>\n we are two. How often and how keenly I have thought of<\/strong><\/p>\n this, I will not say. It is enough that I have thought of it,<\/strong><\/p>\n and can release you.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “Have I ever sought release?”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “In words. No. Never.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “In what, then?”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “In a changed nature; in an altered spirit; in another<\/strong><\/p>\n atmosphere of life; another Hope as its great end. In<\/strong><\/p>\n everything that made my love of any worth or value in your<\/strong><\/p>\n sight. If this had never been between us,” said the girl,<\/strong><\/p>\n looking mildly, but with steadiness, upon him; “tell me,<\/strong><\/p>\n would you seek me out and try to win me now? Ah, no!”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n He seemed to yield to the justice of this supposition, in<\/strong><\/p>\n spite of himself. But he said with a struggle, “You think<\/strong><\/p>\n not.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “I would gladly think otherwise if I could,” she answered,<\/strong><\/p>\n “Heaven knows! When I have learned a Truth like this,<\/strong><\/p>\n I know how strong and irresistible it must be. But if you<\/strong><\/p>\n were free to-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe<\/strong><\/p>\n that you would choose a dowerless girl–you who, in your<\/strong><\/p>\n very confidence with her, weigh everything by Gain: or,<\/strong><\/p>\n choosing her, if for a moment you were false enough to your<\/strong><\/p>\n one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that your<\/strong><\/p>\n repentance and regret would surely follow? I do; and I<\/strong><\/p>\n release you. With a full heart, for the love of him you<\/strong><\/p>\n once were.”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n He was about to speak; but with her head turned from<\/strong><\/p>\n him, she resumed.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n “You may–the memory of what is past half makes me<\/strong><\/p>\n hope you will–have pain in this. A very, very brief time,<\/strong><\/p>\n and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an<\/strong><\/p>\n unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you<\/strong><\/p>\n awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen!”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n She left him, and they parted.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Charles Dickens<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A CHRISTMAS CAROL (IN PROSE BEING, A Ghost Story of Christmas) by Charles Dickens (OCF editing – Part 11) “My time grows short,” observed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[701],"tags":[1011,1010,94,744],"class_list":["post-17020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quote-of-the-day","tag-a-christmas-carol","tag-charles-dickens","tag-christmas","tag-quote-of-the-day"],"yoast_head":"\n