Nor was it more retentive of its ancient state within ; for , entering the dreary hall , and glancing through the open doors of many rooms , they found them poorly furnished , cold , and vast . There was an earthly savour in the air , a chilly bareness in the place , which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candle-light , and not too much to eat . They went , the Ghost and Scrooge , across the hall , to a door at the back of the house . It opened before them , and disclosed a long , bare , melancholy room , made barer still by lines of plain deal forms and desks . At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire ; and Scrooge sat down upon a form , and wept to see his poor forgotten self as he had used to be . Not a latent echo in the house , not a squeak and scuffle from the mice behind the panelling , not a drip from the half-thawed water-spout in the dull yard behind , not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one despondent poplar , not the idle swinging of an empty storehouse door , no , not a clicking in the fire , but fell upon the heart of Scrooge with softening influence , and gave a freer passage to his tears . The Spirit touched him on the arm , and pointed to his younger self , intent upon his reading . Suddenly a man in foreign garments : wonderfully real and distinct to look at : stood outside the window , with an axe stuck in his belt , and leading by the bridle an ass laden with wood . `` Why , it 's Ali Baba ! '' Scrooge exclaimed in ecstasy . `` It 's dear old honest Ali Baba ! Yes , yes , I know . One Christmas-time when yonder solitary child was left here all alone , he did come , for the first time , just like that . Poor boy ! And Valentine , '' said Scrooge , `` and his wild brother , Orson ; there they go ! And what 's his name , who was put down in his drawers , asleep , at the gate of Damascus ; do n't you see him ? And the Sultan 's Groom turned upside down by the Genii : there he is upon his head ! Serve him right ! I 'm glad of it . What business had he to be married to the Princess ? ''
To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature on such subjects , XXXXX a most extraordinary voice between laughing and crying ; and to see his heightened and excited face ; would have been a surprise to his business friends in the City , indeed .
At across from in near of through to upon within