A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens

me!’ cried the Ghost. ‘My time is nearly gone.’

      ‘I will,’ said Scrooge. ‘But don’t be hard upon me! Don’t be flowery, Jacob! Pray!’

      ‘How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.’

      It was not an agreeable idea. Scrooge shivered, and wiped the perspiration from his brow.

      ‘That is no light part of my penance,’ pursued the Ghost. ‘I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.’

      ‘You were always a good friend to me,’ said Scrooge. ‘Thank’ee!’

      ‘You will be haunted,’ resumed the Ghost, ‘by Three Spirits.’

      Scrooge’s countenance fell almost as low as the Ghost’s had done.

      ‘Is that the chance and hope you mentioned, Jacob?’ he demanded, in a faltering voice.

      ‘It is.’

      [38] ‘I – I think I’d rather not,’ said Scrooge.

      ‘Without their visits,’ said the Ghost, ‘you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first to-morrow, when the bell tolls One.’

      ‘Couldn’t I take ’em all at once, and have it over, Jacob?’ hinted Scrooge.

      ‘Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third upon the next night when the last stroke of Twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!’

      When it had said these words, the spectre took its wrapper from the table, and bound it round its head, as before. Scrooge knew this, by the smart sound its teeth made, when the jaws were brought together by the bandage. He ventured to raise his eyes again, and found his supernatural visitor confronting him in an erect attitude, with its chain wound over and about its arm.

      The apparition walked backward from him; and at every step it took the window raised itself a little, so that when the spectre reached it, it was wide open.

      It beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did. When they were within two paces of each other, Marley’s Ghost held up its hand, warning him to come no nearer. Scrooge stopped.

      [39] Not so much in obedience, as in surprise and fear: for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory. The spectre, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and floated out upon the bleak, dark night.

      Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. He looked out.

      The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley’s Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a doorstep. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.

      Whether these creatures faded into mist, or mist enshrouded them, he could not tell. But they and their [40] spirit voices faded together; and the night became as it had been when he walked home.

      Scrooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had entered. It was double-locked, as he had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. He tried to say ‘Humbug!’ but stopped at the first syllable. And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep upon the instant.

      carol: Jubellied.stave: Strophe.’Change: Börse.to put one’s hand to s.th.: etwas unterzeichnen.ironmongery: Eisenwaren, Eisenartikel.simile: Gleichnis.unhallowed: ungeheiligt.done for: erledigt.executor: Testamentsvollstrecker.assign: Abtretungsempfänger; Rechtsnachfolger.residuary legatee: Nachvermächtnisnehmer (Empfänger des nach Abzug sämtlicher Verbindlichkeiten verbleibenden Nachlasses).to be cut up: tief betrübt sein.to solemnise: feierlich begehen.rampart: Schutzwall.tight-fisted: knauserig.grindstone: Mühlstein; d. h., er läßt andere für wenig Lohn hart arbeiten.to wrench: drehen, winden; etwas entwinden.covetous: gierig, lüstern.flint: Feuerstein.self-contained: verschlossen.to nip: kneifen, zwicken.to shrivel: hier: runzlig machen.gait: Gang.shrewdly (adv.): schlau.grating: knarrend.rime: Reif; Rauhreif.wiry: hier: Anspielung auf spärlichen, drahtähnlichen Bartwuchs.dog-days (pl.): Hundstage.to thaw: auftauen.pelting: prasselnd.entreaty: dringende Bitte.sleet: Graupel.to come down: herniederkommen; nachgeben.gladsome: freudig.to implore: anflehen.to wag: wedeln.to edge one’s way: sich (seitwärts) vorbeidrücken; sich (vorwärts) schieben.‘nuts’ to: Riesenspaß für.counting-house: Kontor.bleak: öde, rauh.withal: obendrein; dazu.wheezing: schnaufend; keuchend.to flare: flackern.ruddy: rötlich.smear: Schmierfleck.palpable: greifbar, fühlbar.chink: Spalte, Ritze.dingy: schmutzigbraun.to replenish: wieder auffüllen.comforter: warmer Schal.intimation: Andeutung.morose: mürrisch.on the spur of the moment: spontan.dead against: genau einem entgegen.holly: Stechpalme (Ilex). Schon aus vorchristlicher Zeit stammt der Brauch, mit immergrünen Gewächsen zur Zeit der Wintersonnenwende an die Unsterblichkeit des Lebens zu erinnern. Im englischen Sprachraum werden auch heute noch zu Weihnachten, neben Ilex, Efeu und Mistelzweige als Weihnachtsdekoration verwendet. Auch eines der traditionellen englischen Weihnachtsgerichte, der Wildschweinkopf, wurde oft mit einem Ilexzweig dekoriert serviert.veneration: Verehrung.impropriety: Unschicklichkeit.to poke: schüren.to extinguish: auslöschen.extremity: äußerste Not.be a party to s.th.: an etwas beteiligt sein.in homage to: aus Ehrfurcht vor.notwithstanding: trotzdem.to overhear: zufällig hören; belauschen.Bedlam: abgeleitet aus St. Mary of Bethlehem, seit dem Mittelalter Name eines Irrenhauses in London.lunatic: Irrer, Wahnsinniger.portly: stattlich.credentials (pl.): Empfehlungsschreiben.ominous: unheilvoll.destitute: hilflos, mittellos.Union workhouses: Seit dem Gesetz von 1834 ist den einzelnen Gemeinden die Armenfürsorge entzogen. Größere Verwaltungseinheiten schließen sich zu unions zusammen, die Armenhäuser errichten und betreiben. Der utilitaristischen Tendenz der Gesetzgeber entsprechend sollte es den Armen in diesen Anstalten nicht besser gehen als den am schlechtesten bezahlten Arbeitern. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist es nicht erstaunlich, daß diese Institutionen äußerst schlecht angesehen waren. Vgl. zu Dickens’ Einstellung gegenüber den Armenhäusern auch Oliver Twist (1838/39).Treadmill: Tretmühle.Poor Law: Seit dem wichtigsten der frühen Armengesetze aus dem Jahre 1601, das den Gemeinden die Sorge für die aus der Gemeinde stammenden Armen übertragen und den Pächtern und Bauern, nicht aber den Großgrundbesitzern, die Finanzierung der Armenfürsorge durch die poor rates auferlegt hatte, waren im Laufe der Jahrhunderte eine Vielzahl stark unterschiedlicher lokaler Maßnahmen eingeführt worden, so