The children 's faces , hushed and clustered round to hear what they so little understood , were brighter ; and it was a happier house for this man 's death ! The only emotion that the Ghost could show him , caused by the event , was one of pleasure . `` Let me see some tenderness connected with a death , '' said Scrooge ; `` or that dark chamber , Spirit , which we left just now , will be for ever present to me . '' The Ghost conducted him through several streets familiar to his feet ; and , as they went along , Scrooge looked here and there to find himself , but nowhere was he to be seen . They entered poor Bob Cratchit 's house , -- the dwelling he had visited before , -- and found the mother and the children seated round the fire . Quiet . Very quiet . The noisy little Cratchits were as still as statues in one corner , and sat looking up at Peter , who had a book before him . The mother and her daughters were engaged in sewing . But surely they were very quiet ! '' ` And he took a child , and set him in the midst of them . ' '' Where had Scrooge heard those words ? He had not dreamed them . The boy must have read them out , as he and the Spirit crossed the threshold . Why did he not go on ? The mother laid her work upon the table , and put her hand up to her face . `` The colour hurts my eyes , '' she said . The colour ? Ah , poor Tiny Tim ! `` They 're better now again , '' said Cratchit 's wife .
`` It makes them weak by candle-light ; and I would n't show weak eyes to your father , when he comes home , XXXXX the world .
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