Adventures of Antrobus: No. 5. The Raw Spirit of Christmas Available to Purchase

AS A matter of principle Ebenezer Scrooge always held up the payment of outstanding bills until the last possible moment. This principle was based not merely on his love of money, which was albeit very profound, but on the mistaken premise that such action set the seal on his competence and efficiency as a business man, and emphasized his thrift and acumen. Furthermore, Scrooge did not approve of simple humanities such as office heating until the ink froze solid in the inkpots, an event now imminent in his dismal cell of a counting house on the eve of Christmas, and so surely as the poor clerk complained of the wretched conditions the master predicted it would be necessary for him to seek other employment. Whereupon the clerk wound tighter his muffler and tried to derive a little warmth from the solitary candle; in which endeavour, having but only average imagination, he failed miserably.