Belle Releases Scrooge

The Spirit shows Scrooge a later scene: he is older, with the signs of care and avarice beginning to show on his face. He sits beside a fair young girl in mourning, Belle, who is releasing him from their engagement. She tells him that a 'golden idol'—the pursuit of wealth—has displaced her in his heart. Scrooge protests that he is not changed towards her, but she insists that he is, and that their contract, made when they were both poor and content, is now fraught with misery. She releases him, saying she does so for the love of the man he once was. Scrooge, watching, cries out for the Spirit to show him no more.