It showed Scrooge businessmen joking about a funeral they might attend only for a free lunch. In Old Joe’s dark shop, a laundress, a charwoman, and an undertaker’s man sold curtains and clothes stolen from a dead man’s room. Elsewhere, a worried couple felt relieved because their harsh creditor had died.
“Who was that lonely man?” Scrooge begged. The spirit answered only by pointing.
Then Scrooge saw the Cratchit home, strangely quiet. Bob entered slowly, having visited Tiny Tim’s little grave. The family gathered around him and promised never to forget the child. Last of all, the spirit led Scrooge into a churchyard and showed him a neglected stone bearing his own name.
Scrooge clutched the spirit's robe.
"No!" he cried. "I will honor Christmas in my heart. I will be kinder. I will change these shadows!"
He woke in his own bed.
Morning sunlight filled the room.
Scrooge laughed. It was rusty at first, like an old gate, but it improved quickly.
"I am alive!" he shouted. "And it is Christmas Day!"
He opened the window and called to a boy in the street.
"What day is it?"
"Christmas Day, of course!" the boy called back.
"Excellent!" cried Scrooge. "Buy the prize turkey and take it to Bob Cratchit's house. Keep the change!"
The boy ran so fast he nearly arrived yesterday. Scrooge sent Bob the enormous prize turkey without signing his name, delighted by the secret.
Scrooge dressed in his best clothes, gave money to charity, greeted everyone warmly, and went to his nephew's dinner.
The next morning, Bob Cratchit came late, nervous and cold.
Scrooge frowned fiercely.
Then he burst out, "I am going to raise your salary! And help your family! And buy more coal for this office before the fire dies of loneliness!"
Bob nearly fell over.
From that day on, Scrooge became as good a friend, employer, and man as London knew. He helped Tiny Tim grow strong, kept Christmas well, and laughed so warmly that people smiled to hear him coming.
And Tiny Tim, who did not die, would always say, “God bless us, every one!”