It was their turn to laugh , now , at the notion of his shaking Scrooge . But , being thoroughly good-natured , and not much caring what they laughed at , so that they laughed at any rate , he encouraged them in their merriment , and passed the bottle , joyously . After tea they had some music . For they were a musical family , and knew what they were about when they sung a Glee or Catch , I can assure you : especially Topper , who could growl away in the bass like a good one , and never swell the large veins in his forehead , or get red in the face over it . Scrooge 's niece played well upon the harp ; and played , among other tunes , a simple little air -LRB- a mere nothing : you might learn to whistle it in two minutes -RRB- , which had been familiar to the child who fetched Scrooge from the boarding-school , as he had been reminded by the Ghost of Christmas Past . When this strain of music sounded , all the things that Ghost had shown him came upon his mind ; he softened more and more ; and thought that if he could have listened to it often , years ago , he might have cultivated the kindnesses of life for his own happiness with his own hands , without resorting to the sexton 's spade that buried Jacob Marley . But they did n't devote the whole evening to music . After awhile they played at forfeits ; for it is good to be children sometimes , and never better than at Christmas , when its mighty Founder was a child himself . Stop ! There was first a game at blindman 's buff . Of course there was . And I no more believe Topper was really blind than I believe he had eyes in his boots . My opinion is , that it was a done thing between him and Scrooge 's nephew ; and that the Ghost of Christmas Present knew it . The way he went after that plump sister in the lace tucker was an outrage on the credulity of human nature . Knocking down the fire-irons , tumbling over the chairs , bumping up against the piano , smothering himself amongst the curtains , wherever she went , there went he ! He always knew where the plump sister was . He would n't catch anybody else . If you had fallen up against him -LRB- as some of them did -RRB- on purpose , he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you , which would have been an affront to your understanding , and would instantly have sidled off in the direction of the plump sister . She often cried out that it was n't fair ; and it really was not . But when , at last , he caught her ; when , in spite of all her silken rustlings , and her rapid flutterings past him , he got her into a corner whence there was no escape , then his conduct was the most execrable .
For his pretending not to know her ; his pretending that it was necessary XXXXX touch her head-dress , and further to assure himself of her identity by pressing a certain ring upon her finger , and a certain chain about her neck , was vile , monstrous !
For If against among between like of on that to