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 to 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 ! No doubt she told him her opinion of it when , another blind man being in office , they were so very confidential together behind the curtains . Scrooge 's niece was not one of the blindman 's buff party , but was made comfortable with a large chair and a footstool , in a snug corner where the Ghost and Scrooge were close behind her . But she joined in the forfeits , and loved her love to admiration with all the letters of the alphabet . Likewise at the game of How , When , and Where , she was very great , and , to the secret joy of Scrooge 's nephew , beat her sisters hollow : though they were sharp girls too , as Topper could have told you .
There might have been twenty people there , young and old , but they all played , and so did Scrooge ; XXXXX , wholly forgetting , in the interest he had in what was going on , that his voice made no sound in their ears , he sometimes came out with his guess quite loud , and very often guessed right , too , for the sharpest needle , best Whitechapel , warranted not to cut in the eye , was not sharper than Scrooge ; blunt as he took it in his head to be .
If about after as behind for in of over than