`` Are you the Spirit , sir , whose coming was foretold to me ? '' asked Scrooge . `` I am ! '' The voice was soft and gentle . Singularly low , as if , instead of being so close beside him , it were at a distance . `` Who and what are you ? '' Scrooge demanded . `` I am the Ghost of Christmas Past . '' `` Long Past ? '' inquired Scrooge ; observant of its dwarfish stature . `` No . Your past . '' Perhaps Scrooge could not have told anybody why , if anybody could have asked him ; but he had a special desire to see the Spirit in his cap ; and begged him to be covered . `` What ! '' exclaimed the Ghost , `` would you so soon put out , with worldly hands , the light I give ? Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap , and force me through whole trains of years to wear it low upon my brow ? '' Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend or any knowledge of having wilfully `` bonneted '' the Spirit at any period of his life . He then made bold to inquire what business brought him there . `` Your welfare ! '' said the Ghost .
Scrooge expressed himself much obliged , but could not help thinking that a night XXXXX unbroken rest would have been more conducive to that end .
Scrooge at if in of that through to with years