“I don’t know what to do!” cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath…. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!”
Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?—Not the little prize Turkey: the big one? . . . Go and buy it. . . . I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell ‘em to bring it here, that I may give them the directions 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!
In the afternoon he turned his steps towards his nephew’s house. He passed the door a dozen time, before he had the courage to go up and knock. But he made a dash, and did it…. “It’s I. Your uncle Scrooge. I have come to dinner. Will you let me in, Fred?” Let him in! It is a mercy he didn’t shake his arm off. He was at home in five minutes.
“Now, I’ll tell you what, my friend,” said Scrooge. “I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore… and therefore I am about to raise your salary!... A merry Christmas, Bob!... A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family.…” Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew….
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