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- Чарльз Диккенс
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- Стр. 1/78
A Christmas Story
Marley
was
dead
:
to
begin
with
.
There
is
no
doubt
whatever
about
that
.
The
register
of
his
burial
was
signed
by
the
clergyman
,
the
clerk
,
the
undertaker
,
and
the
chief
mourner
.
Scrooge
signed
it
.
And
Scrooge
's
name
was
good
upon
'
Change
,
for
anything
he
chose
to
put
his
hand
to
.
Old
Marley
was
as
dead
as
a
door-nail
.
Mind
!
I
do
n't
mean
to
say
that
I
know
,
of
my
own
knowledge
,
what
there
is
particularly
dead
about
a
door-nail
.
I
might
have
been
inclined
,
myself
,
to
regard
a
coffin-nail
as
the
deadest
piece
of
ironmongery
in
the
trade
.
But
the
wisdom
of
our
ancestors
is
in
the
simile
;
and
my
unhallowed
hands
shall
not
disturb
it
,
or
the
Country
's
done
for
.
You
will
therefore
permit
me
to
repeat
,
emphatically
,
that
Marley
was
as
dead
as
a
door-nail
.
Scrooge
knew
he
was
dead
?
Of
course
he
did
.
How
could
it
be
otherwise
?
Scrooge
and
he
were
partners
for
I
do
n't
know
how
many
years
.
Scrooge
was
his
sole
executor
,
his
sole
administrator
,
his
sole
assign
,
his
sole
residuary
legatee
,
his
sole
friend
,
and
sole
mourner
.
And
even
Scrooge
was
not
so
dreadfully
cut
up
by
the
sad
event
,
but
that
he
was
an
excellent
man
of
business
on
the
very
day
of
the
funeral
,
and
solemnised
it
with
an
undoubted
bargain
.
The
mention
of
Marley
's
funeral
brings
me
back
to
the
point
I
started
from
.
There
is
no
doubt
that
Marley
was
dead
.
This
must
be
distinctly
understood
,
or
nothing
wonderful
can
come
of
the
story
I
am
going
to
relate
.
If
we
were
not
perfectly
convinced
that
Hamlet
's
Father
died
before
the
play
began
,
there
would
be
nothing
more
remarkable
in
his
taking
a
stroll
at
night
,
in
an
easterly
wind
,
upon
his
own
ramparts
,
than
there
would
be
in
any
other
middle-aged
gentleman
rashly
turning
out
after
dark
in
a
breezy
spot
--
say
Saint
Paul
's
Churchyard
for
instance
--
literally
to
astonish
his
son
's
weak
mind
.
Scrooge
never
painted
out
Old
Marley
's
name
.
There
it
stood
,
years
afterwards
,
above
the
warehouse
door
:
Scrooge
and
Marley
.
The
firm
was
known
as
Scrooge
and
Marley
.
Sometimes
people
new
to
the
business
called
Scrooge
Scrooge
,
and
sometimes
Marley
,
but
he
answered
to
both
names
.
It
was
all
the
same
to
him
.
Oh
!
But
he
was
a
tight-fisted
hand
at
the
grind-stone
,
Scrooge
!
a
squeezing
,
wrenching
,
grasping
,
scraping
,
clutching
,
covetous
,
old
sinner
!
Hard
and
sharp
as
flint
,
from
which
no
steel
had
ever
struck
out
generous
fire
;
secret
,
and
self-contained
,
and
solitary
as
an
oyster
.
The
cold
within
him
froze
his
old
features
,
nipped
his
pointed
nose
,
shrivelled
his
cheek
,
stiffened
his
gait
;
made
his
eyes
red
,
his
thin
lips
blue
;
and
spoke
out
shrewdly
in
his
grating
voice
.
A
frosty
rime
was
on
his
head
,
and
on
his
eyebrows
,
and
his
wiry
chin
.
He
carried
his
own
low
temperature
always
about
with
him
;
he
iced
his
office
in
the
dogdays
;
and
did
n't
thaw
it
one
degree
at
Christmas
.
External
heat
and
cold
had
little
influence
on
Scrooge
.
No
warmth
could
warm
,
no
wintry
weather
chill
him
.
No
wind
that
blew
was
bitterer
than
he
,
no
falling
snow
was
more
intent
upon
its
purpose
,
no
pelting
rain
less
open
to
entreaty
.
Foul
weather
did
n't
know
where
to
have
him
.
The
heaviest
rain
,
and
snow
,
and
hail
,
and
sleet
,
could
boast
of
the
advantage
over
him
in
only
one
respect
.
They
often
'
came
down
'
handsomely
,
and
Scrooge
never
did
.
Nobody
ever
stopped
him
in
the
street
to
say
,
with
gladsome
looks
,
'
My
dear
Scrooge
,
how
are
you
?
When
will
you
come
to
see
me
?
'
No
beggars
implored
him
to
bestow
a
trifle
,
no
children
asked
him
what
it
was
o'clock
,
no
man
or
woman
ever
once
in
all
his
life
inquired
the
way
to
such
and
such
a
place
,
of
Scrooge
.
Even
the
blind
men
's
dogs
appeared
to
know
him
;
and
when
they
saw
him
coming
on
,
would
tug
their
owners
into
doorways
and
up
courts
;
and
then
would
wag
their
tails
as
though
they
said
,
'
No
eye
at
all
is
better
than
an
evil
eye
,
dark
master
!
'
