Scrooge, I See It, Said the Ghost

Scrooge was not much in the habit of cracking jokes, nor did he feel, in his heart by any means w ish. The truth is that he tried to be smart as a means of distracting his own attention and keeping down his terror. For the spectre's voice disturbed the very marrow in his bones. To sit staring at those fixed glazed eyes in silence for a moment would play, scrooge felt the very deuce him. Scrooge fell upon his knees and clasped his hands before his face. Mercy, he said, dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?