The Plundering of the Dead Man's Goods

The Spirit leads Scrooge to a low-browed shop in a foul, narrow part of town, where old Joe buys old rags, bottles, bones, and iron. Three people enter: a charwoman, a laundress (Mrs. Dilber), and an undertaker's man, each carrying bundles of goods they have stolen from the dead man's house. They laugh and joke as old Joe appraises the items: bed-curtains, sheets, towels, silver teaspoons, sugar-tongs, boots, and even the shirt from the dead man's back. The charwoman says, 'He frightened every one away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead!' Scrooge watches in horror, realizing that this could be his own fate.