Answer:
In a way, it is ironic that Scrooge is in the presence of Biblical characters and haunted by the spirit of Marley.
Explanation:
Old-fashioned Dutch tiles were used to decorate the fireplace, which had been erected by some Dutch trader at some point in the past. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh's daughters, Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts; but that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet's rod, and swallowed up the whole. There would have been a replica of old Marley's head on every smooth tile if each one had been a blank at beginning, with the ability to mold some image on its surface from the disconnected pieces of his thoughts.
