stave 4

• the final spirit, the ghost of christmas yet to come, appears
• scrooge is terrified of this spirit although it doesn't speak a word to him, and he tells the spirit that he's ready to learn its lesson and wants to change his ways
• the spirit shows scrooge a group of men talking about an unnamed rich man who has recently died
• they wonder if anyone will go to the funeral and joke that they will only go if there's free lunch
• scrooge can't figure out who the men are talking about
• next, scrooge sees a dingy shop belonging to a fence, where a group of servants sell items they have stolen from the dead rich man's house
• scrooge also sees the dinner table of a poor couple who are grateful that he's died as it gives them more time to repay their debt
• scrooge begs to be shown some tenderness connected to death and the spirit shows scrooge the cratchit household, where he sees that tiny tim has died
• the cratchits are full of grief for tiny tim's death but express how happy they were to have been able to share his life
• scrooge asks to know who the dead rich man was and the spirit takes him to a graveyard and points to a gravestone
• scrooge approaches the gravestone and is horrified to read his own name on it
• scrooge begs the spirit for a chance to change his ways and avoid the future he has been shown, promising to remember the lessons he has learned from all three spirits
• as he grabs the spirit's hand, it vanishes and he wakes up back in his own bed