`` Whose else 's do you think ? '' replied the woman . `` He is n't likely to take cold without 'em , I dare say . '' `` I hope he did n't die of anything catching ? Eh ? '' said old Joe , stopping in his work , and looking up . `` Do n't you be afraid of that , '' returned the woman . `` I a n't so fond of his company that I 'd loiter about him for such things , if he did . Ah ! You may look through that shirt till your eyes ache ; but you wo n't find a hole in it , nor a threadbare place . It 's the best he had , and a fine one too . They 'd have wasted it , if it had n't been for me . '' `` What do you call wasting of it ? '' asked old Joe . `` Putting it on him to be buried in , to be sure , '' replied the woman with a laugh . `` Somebody was fool enough to do it , but I took it off again . If calico a n't good enough for such a purpose , it is n't good enough for anything . It 's quite as becoming to the body . He ca n't look uglier than he did in that one . '' Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror .
As they sat grouped about their spoil , XXXXX the scanty light afforded by the old man 's lamp , he viewed them with a detestation and disgust which could hardly have been greater , though they had been obscene demons , marketing the corpse itself .
for if in of on than through till with without