But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms , and forced him to observe what happened next . They were in another scene and place ; a room , not very large or handsome , but full of comfort . Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl , so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same , until he saw her , now a comely matron , sitting opposite her daughter . The noise in this room was perfectly tumultuous , for there were more children there than Scrooge in his agitated state of mind could count ; and , unlike the celebrated herd in the poem , they were not forty children conducting themselves like one , but every child was conducting itself like forty . The consequences were uproarious beyond belief ; but no one seemed to care ; on the contrary , the mother and daughter laughed heartily , and enjoyed it very much ; and the latter , soon beginning to mingle in the sports , got pillaged by the young brigands most ruthlessly . What would I not have given to be one of them ! Though I never could have been so rude , no , no ! I would n't for the wealth of all the world have crushed that braided hair , and torn it down ; and , for the precious little shoe , I would n't have plucked it off , God bless my soul ! to save my life . As to measuring her waist in sport , as they did , bold young brood , I could n't have done it ; I should have expected my arm to have grown round it for a punishment , and never come straight again . And yet I should have dearly liked , I own , to have touched her lips ; to have questioned her , that she might have opened them ; to have looked upon the lashes of her downcast eyes , and never raised a blush ; to have let loose waves of hair , an inch of which would be a keepsake beyond price : in short , I should have liked , I do confess , to have had the lightest licence of a child , and yet to have been man enough to know its value . But now a knocking at the door was heard , and such a rush immediately ensued that she , with laughing face and plundered dress , was borne towards it in the centre of a flushed and boisterous group , just in time to greet the father , who came home attended by a man laden with Christmas toys and presents . Then the shouting and the struggling , and the onslaught that was made on the defenceless porter ! The scaling him , with chairs for ladders , to dive into his pockets , despoil him of brown-paper parcels , hold on tight by his cravat , hug him round the neck , pummel his back , and kick his legs in irrepressible affection ! The shouts of wonder and delight with which the development of every package was received ! The terrible announcement that the baby had been taken in the act of putting a doll 's frying-pan into his mouth , and was more than suspected of having swallowed a fictitious turkey , glued on a wooden platter ! The immense relief of finding this a false alarm ! The joy , and gratitude , and ecstasy ! They are all indescribable alike . It is enough that by degrees , the children and their emotions got out of the parlour , and , by one stair at a time , up to the top of the house , where they went to bed , and so subsided .
And now XXXXX looked on more attentively than ever , when the master of the house , having his daughter leaning fondly on him , sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside ; and when he thought that such another creature , quite as graceful and as full of promise , might have called him father , and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life , his sight grew very dim indeed .
Scrooge brigands centre cravat fire frying-pan keepsake ladders licence parlour