A frosty rime was on his head , and on his eyebrows , and his wiry chin . He carried his own low temperature always about with him ; he iced his office in the dog-days ; and did n't thaw it one degree at Christmas . External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge . No warmth could warm , no wintry weather chill him . No wind that blew was bitterer than he , no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose , no pelting rain less open to entreaty . Foul weather did n't know where to have him . The heaviest rain , and snow , and hail , and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect . They often `` came down '' handsomely and Scrooge never did . Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say , with gladsome looks , `` My dear Scrooge , how are you ? When will you come to see me ? '' No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle , no children asked him what it was o'clock , no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place , of Scrooge . Even the blind men 's dogs appeared to know him ; and , when they saw him coming on , would tug their owners into doorways and up courts ; and then would wag their tails as though they said , `` No eye at all is better than an evil eye , dark master ! '' But what did Scrooge care ? It was the very thing he liked . To edge his way along the crowded paths of life , warning all human sympathy to keep its distance , was what the knowing ones call `` nuts '' to Scrooge . Once upon a time -- of all the good days in the year , on Christmas Eve -- old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house . It was cold , bleak , biting weather : foggy withal : and he could hear the people in the court outside go wheezing up and down , beating their hands upon their breasts , and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them . The City clocks had only just gone three , but it was quite dark already -- it had not been light all day -- and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices , like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air . The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole , and was so dense without , that , although the court was of the narrowest , the houses opposite were mere phantoms . To see the dingy cloud come drooping down , obscuring everything , one might have thought that nature lived hard by and was brewing on a large scale .
The door of Scrooge 's counting-house was open , that he might keep his eye upon his clerk , who in a dismal little cell beyond , a sort XXXXX tank , was copying letters .
along by into of on outside than to up upon