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I . Scrooge and Marley Marley was dead . There was no doubt about that at all . Jacob Marley died seven years before this story begins . His business partner , Ebenezer Scrooge , was his only friend , and even Scrooge was not very sad . On the day of the funeral he did some very good business , because business always came first for him . Scrooge never painted out Marley’s name . Years later , the sign over the office door still said SCROOGE AND MARLEY . New people sometimes called Scrooge “ Marley ” by mistake , and he answered to both names . It was all the same to him . Oh , but he was a hard man , Scrooge ! He loved money more than people , and he never gave a penny away . He was as hard and sharp as a stone , and as cold as ice . The cold inside him made his old face stiff and his thin lips blue . There was white frost on his hair and on his eyebrows . He carried this cold with him wherever he went . In summer his office was as cold as a cellar , and at Christmas it was not one bit warmer . Nobody ever stopped Scrooge in the street to say , “ My dear Scrooge , how are you ? ” Beggars did not ask him for a coin , and children did not ask him the time . Even the dogs of blind men pulled their owners into doorways when they saw him coming . But Scrooge did not mind . In fact , he liked it . He wanted everyone to keep away from him . One Christmas Eve , Scrooge sat working in his office . It was cold , grey weather , and there was a thick fog . The city clocks struck three , but it was already dark , and candles were burning in all the office windows . The fog came in through every keyhole and every crack in the walls . The door of Scrooge’s room was open , so he could keep an eye on his clerk . A clerk was a man who wrote letters and copied numbers into big books for his master . Scrooge’s clerk was called Bob Cratchit . He worked in a small , dark room that looked more like a cupboard . Scrooge had a very small fire , but Bob’s fire was much smaller . It looked like one single piece of coal . Bob could not add more coal , because Scrooge kept the coal box in his own room . When Bob came in with the shovel , Scrooge always said that he was going to lose his job . So Bob wrapped his long white scarf around his neck and tried to warm his hands over his candle . It did not help much . II . Fred’s Invitation “ A merry Christmas , uncle ! God save you ! ” cried a cheerful voice . It was Scrooge’s nephew Fred , the son of his dead sister . He came in so fast through the fog that he was warm all over . His face was red and handsome , and his eyes were shining . “ Bah ! ” said Scrooge . “ Humbug ! ” Humbug was one of Scrooge’s favourite words . It means nonsense , or a silly lie .
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