Then He Sat Down to Eat His Gruel, and Shook His Head.

Scrooge sat down before the fire to take his gruel. The fireplace was an old one, built by some dutch merchant long ago. Scrooge looked at a bell that hung in the room and communicated for purpose now forgotten. It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound. But soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house. This might have lasted half a minute or a minute, but it seemed an hour. They were succeeded by a clanking noise deep down below. He then membered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains.