It is enough that by degrees , the children and their emotions got out of the parlour , and , by one stair at a time , up to the top of the house , where they went to bed , and so subsided . And now Scrooge looked on more attentively than ever , when the master of the house , having his daughter leaning fondly on him , sat down with her and her mother at his own fireside ; and when he thought that such another creature , quite as graceful and as full of promise , might have called him father , and been a spring-time in the haggard winter of his life , his sight grew very dim indeed . `` Belle , '' said the husband , turning to his wife with a smile , `` I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon . '' `` Who was it ? '' `` Guess ! '' `` How can I ? Tut , do n't I know ? '' she added in the same breath , laughing as he laughed . `` Mr. Scrooge . '' `` Mr. Scrooge it was . I passed his office window ; and as it was not shut up , and he had a candle inside , I could scarcely help seeing him . His partner lies upon the point of death , I hear ; and there he sat alone . Quite alone in the world , I do believe . '' `` Spirit ! '' said Scrooge in a broken voice , `` remove me from this place . '' `` I told you these were shadows of the things that have been , '' said the Ghost . `` That they are what they are , do not blame me ! '' `` Remove me ! '' Scrooge exclaimed . `` I can not bear it ! ''
He turned upon the Ghost , and seeing that it looked upon him with a face in which in some strange way there were fragments of all the faces it had shown him , wrestled XXXXX it .
as at from in of on than that to with