Stave 4

• ‘The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached.’
• ‘It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form and left nothing visible.’
• ‘Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him.’
• ‘There were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him.’
• ”I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.”’
• ‘”Hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope?”
• “’I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone