`` We 'd a deal of work to finish up last night , '' replied the girl , `` and had to clear away this morning , mother ! '' `` Well ! never mind so long as you are come , '' said Mrs. Cratchit . `` Sit ye down before the fire , my dear , and have a warm , Lord bless ye ! '' `` No , no ! There 's father coming , '' cried the two young Cratchits , who were everywhere at once . `` Hide , Martha , hide ! '' So Martha hid herself , and in came little Bob , the father , with at least three feet of comforter , exclusive of the fringe , hanging down before him ; and his threadbare clothes darned up and brushed to look seasonable ; and Tiny Tim upon his shoulder . Alas for Tiny Tim , he bore a little crutch , and had his limbs supported by an iron frame ! `` Why , where 's our Martha ? '' cried Bob Cratchit , looking round . `` Not coming , '' said Mrs. Cratchit . `` Not coming ! '' said Bob with a sudden declension in his high spirits ; for he had been Tim 's blood horse all the way from church , and had come home rampant . `` Not coming upon Christmas-day ! '' Martha did n't like to see him disappointed , if it were only in joke ; so she came out prematurely from behind the closet door , and ran into his arms , while the two young Cratchits hustled Tiny Tim , and bore him off into the wash-house , that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper . `` And how did little Tim behave ? '' asked Mrs. Cratchit when she had rallied Bob on his credulity , and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart 's content . `` As good as gold , '' said Bob , `` and better . Somehow , he gets thoughtful , sitting by himself so much , and thinks the strangest things you ever heard .
He told me , coming home , that he hoped the people saw him in the church , because he was a cripple , and it might be pleasant XXXXX them to remember upon Christmas-day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see . ''
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