Book account

They spent but a third of the
customary amount in providing presents, and they were not quite sure
that they were wise in spending as much as that. Uncle Joe went to
considerable pains to convince them that they were making fools of
themselves in throwing away money that might be needed for his
funeral, and absolutely refused to become a party to the affair. He
moped in his bedroom, over an oil-stove, and made himself generally
unpleasant. As for "The Christmas Carol," he had but one opinion about
it, and this is no place to express it.
When he came into the sitting-room after the departure of the Sykeses,
breaking in upon the tender reflections of Mr. and Mrs. Single, he
represented the ghost who might have been at the feast but was, for
some reason, obligingly late.
As he stood over the blaze, rubbing his bony old knuckles, he was a
depressing figure indeed. His gloomy eyes had no reflected glow in
them; his long, stooped frame suggested nothing so much as a weather-
worn scare-crow about which a thousand storms had thrashed.


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