A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Stave 4 Page 19

“His blankets?” asked Joe.

“Whose else's do you think?” replied the woman. “He isn't likely to take cold without 'em, I dare say.”

“I hope he didn't die of anything catching? Eh?” said old Joe, stopping in his work, and looking up.

“Don't you be afraid of that,” returned the woman. “I an't so fond of his company that I'd loiter about him for such things, if he did. Ah! You may look through that shirt till your eyes ache; but you won't find a hole in it, nor a threadbare place. It's the best he had, and a fine one too. They'd have wasted it, if it hadn't been for me.”

“What do you call wasting of it?” asked old Joe.