The second of the three spirits1

The second of the three spirits1When Scrooge woke upTile Blade，he realized immediately that the church clock was just going to strike one．He felt sure that the second spirit would Soon visit him．This time he wanted to be ready，so he pulled back all the curtains round his bed himself，and lay there，waiting．At one o'clock，instead of a spirit，a strong light shone downGeneral Purpose Bladeon Scrooge's bed．He felt very frightened．After a few minutes he thought that perhaps the light was coming from the next room，so he got up and went to the door．When he touched it，a strange voice called his name，and asked him to enter．He obeyed．

Although he recognized it as his own room，it looked very different now．The walls were covered with bright green leaves，and there was a good fire burning in the fireplace．On the floor were big plies of the best Christmas food—wonderful rich dark cakes，warm soft bread，colourful apples and oranges，plates of yellow butter，cooked chickens，boxes of chocolates and sugared sweets．Sitting beside all this was a large，smiling spirit，who called out cheerfully to Scrooge， ‘Come in！Chme in，man！I am the ghost of Christmas Present！Look at me！’

Since the first ghost's visit，Scrooge was no longer very sure of himself．So although the spirit's eyes were clear and kind，Scrooge was afraid to look straight into its face．But he could see that its body was dressed in a long green robe，its long brown hair fell freely down its back，and its face wore a warm and friendly smile．Light shone from the torch which it was holding in its strong right hand．

‘Spirit，’said Scrooge quietly，‘take me where you want．Last night I learned a lesson which is working now．If you have anything to teach meTile Bladetonight，let me learn from you．’

‘Touch my robe！’said the spirit，and Scrooge obeyed．

The food，the room，the fire all disappeared，and they were standing outside in the cold，snowy streets on Christmas morning．Althought the sky was grey and the streets were dirty，the people looked surprisingly cheerful，as they hurried to the bakers'shops with their Christmas dinners，all ready for cooking．The spirit seemed specially interested in poor people．He stood with Scrooge in a baker's doorway and held his torch over the dinners as they were carried past him．Sometimes，when he saw people pushing each other or getting angry，he lifted his torch over their heads，and immediately they became kinder，or stopped arguing，‘because it's Christmas，’they told each other．

‘What does your torch do，spirit？’asked Scrooge．

‘It gives a special taste to people's dinners on this day，’answered the spirit．

‘Why do you use it most on poor people？’said Scrooge．

‘Because poor people need it most，’was the reply．

They went on through London，and came to the small house where Scrooge's clerk lived．Here the spirit smiled，and held his torch high over the door．Inside，Bob Cratchit's wife and second daughter，Belinda，Tile Bladein their everyday dresses，but looking clean and pretty，were putting plates on the table for their Christmas dinner．Bob's son Peter was helping to cookGeneral Purpose Bladethe potatoes，and two smaller Cratchits，a boy and a girl，were running round excitedly．Just then the eldest daughter，Martha，arrived home from work．