"Marley was dead,
to begin with.
There is no doubt whatever
about that.
The register of his burial
was signed by the clergyman,
the clerk, the undertaker,
and the chief mourner.
Scrooge signed it.
And Scrooge's name was
good upon 'Change,
for anything he chose
to put his hand to.
Old Marley was
as dead as a door-nail."
Charles Dickens