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.
“MARLEY was dead: to begin with.”
I always loved that opening line. I think I liked it a lot because my Dad always used “Dead as a door nail.” It took me until high school English Lit to understand where Dad got it from.