But as he walked the black streets of London at night, observing the stark contrast between glowing shop windows and gaunt beggars, a better idea struck him. A story, he realized, would reach more hearts than a polemic. He wrote to a friend, explaining that he would strike a "sledge-hammer blow" for the poor through the guise of a Christmas tale.

She seized his hand and dragged him through the walls of his own house into a cramped kitchen where Timothy Cratchit and his family sat around a table.

On Christmas Eve, a bitter wind rattled the shuttered windows. Inside, Silas sat by a dying fire, eating stale bread. The mantel held seven clocks, each one showing a different hour — none correct. He liked it that way. Time is a lie , he muttered. A debt no one repays.