Omnes. A dance! a dance! (Short, Country Dance, in which Scrooge joins without being observed by the rest. Towards the conclusion of it the Spirit advances—draws Scrooge back from the group—a bright glow lights up the Scene, as the Spirit and Scrooge sink through the Stage unnoticed by the groups.)
END OF ACT I.
ACT II.
SCENE I.—Humble Apartment in Bob Cratchit's House. Table, chairs, etc., on.
Mrs. Cratchit and Belinda Cratchit discovered laying the cloth. Peter Cratchit is by fire. Scrooge and the Spirit of Christmas Present rise through the Stage, and stand aside and observe them.
Scr. So, this is my clerk's dwelling, Spirit—Bob Cratchit's. You blessed it with the sprinkling of your torch as we passed the threshold. Bob had but fifteen Bob a week. He pockets on Saturdays but fifteen copies of his Christian name, and yet the Ghost of Christmas Present blessed his four-roomed house. (Two of Cratchit's younger children, Boy and Girl, run in.)
Boy. Oh, mother—outside the baker's we smell such a goose! It must have been ours—no one has got such a goose. Oh, gemini! (They dance round the table in childish glee.)
Mrs. C. Whatever has got your precious father, Bob, and Tiny Tim. And Martha warn't as late this Christmas Day by half an hour!
Enter Martha, l. h.