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“ Are there no prisons ? ” asked Scrooge . “ Plenty of prisons . ” “ And the workhouses ? Are they still open ? ” A workhouse was a hard , cold place where the poorest people lived and worked for their bread . “ They are , ” said the man . “ I wish they were not . They bring very little comfort . So a few of us are collecting money to buy the poor some food and coal . How much can I put you down for ? ” “ Nothing ! ” said Scrooge . “ I help to pay for the prisons and the workhouses , and they cost enough . Poor people must go there . ” “ Many can’t go there , and many would rather die . ” “ If they would rather die , ” said Scrooge , “ they had better do it . Then there will be fewer people in the world . There are too many of them already . Besides , it isn’t my business . Good afternoon , sirs ! ” The two men left without a word . The fog grew thicker , and the cold grew sharper . A boy stopped at the keyhole to sing a Christmas carol . “ God bless you , merry gentleman ! ” he began . But Scrooge picked up his ruler so angrily that the boy ran away in fear . At last it was time to close the office . Bob blew out his candle at once and put on his hat . “ You’ll want all day tomorrow , I suppose ? ” said Scrooge . “ If that’s all right , sir . It’s only once a year . ” “ That’s a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty - fifth of December ! ” said Scrooge , and he buttoned his coat up to his chin . “ I pay a day’s wages for no work ! But I suppose you must have the whole day . Be here all the earlier the next morning ! ” Bob promised , and Scrooge walked out with a growl . Bob had no coat , so the long ends of his scarf hung down below his waist . In honour of Christmas Eve , he joined some boys on an icy slide in the street and went down it twenty times . Then he ran all the way home to Camden Town , to play games with his children . III . Marley’s Ghost Scrooge ate his lonely dinner in his usual inn , and then he went home . He lived in some dark old rooms which once belonged to Marley . All the other rooms in the building were offices , so at night nobody lived there but Scrooge . The knocker on his door was large and quite ordinary . Scrooge saw it every day . But tonight , when he put his key in the lock , the knocker was not a knocker any more . It was Marley’s face . It looked at Scrooge the way Marley always looked at him , with its old glasses pushed up on its forehead . There was a strange , pale light around it . As Scrooge looked hard at it , it turned into a knocker again . He felt a terrible fear for a moment . Then he went in and lit his candle . Before he shut the door , he looked carefully behind it . But there was nothing there . “ Pooh , pooh ! ” he said , and he closed it with a bang .
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