Good afternoon!" said Scrooge. His nephew left the room, without an angry word stopping only to wish Bob Cratchit a merry Christmas Then two other gentlemen came in. They were large, round, comfortable-looking men, with books and in their hands. This is Scrooge and Marley's, I think," said one of them, looking at the papers that he was carrying. "Am I speaking to Mr Scrooge or Mr Marley?' Mr Marley is dead," Scrooge replied. "He died seven years ago today, on Christmas Eve.' I'm sure that you are just as kind to the poor as your partner, said the gentleman, smiling What was true was that Scrooge was just as mean as Marley, and Marley had been just as mean as Scrooge. At this happy time of year, Mr Scrooge,' the gentleman went on, taking up his pen we should help poor people who have no food or clothes or homes. "Are there no prisons?' asked Scrooge coldly. "Plenty of prisons, said the gentleman. "And the workhouses, where poor people can live and work? Are they still open?" Yes, they are, I'm sorry to say.' I'm happy to hear it,' said Scrooge. "I thought from what you said at first, that perhaps these useful places were closed, for some reason. "But some of us feel,' replied the gentleman, that the places don't offer enough to poor people. We're hoping to