the musketeers, and the musketeers fired on the mob, and nobody thought any of these occurrences much out of the common way. In the midst of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at the door of Westminster
Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!‘I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!’ Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. ‘The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this.’ Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset. And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!
No era Esteban hombre galante, hermoso, ni llamativo en sentido alguno; sin embargo, en la manera como aceptó el obsequio y en el modo que tuvo de darlas gracias sin excederse en palabras, había una elegancia que ni en un siglo de aleccionamiento hubiera podido lord Chesterfield enseñar a su propio hijo.
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 to them to remember, upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.
¡Qué extraño se le hacía volver la espalda a las chimeneas para mirar a los pájaros! ¡Qué extraño el sentir bajo los pies el polvo de la carretera en lugar de la carbonilla! ¡Qué extraño el haber llegado a una edad tan avanzada y estar empezando a vivir en aquella mañana de verano lo mismo que un muchacho! Con estos pensamientos en la cabeza y el hatillo de ropa bajo el brazo, Esteban, pensativo como siempre, echó a andar carretera adelante. Los árboles se doblaban a su paso, susurrándole que dejaba detrás un corazón leal y enamorado.