The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the starting point of my story. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. That must be considered keenly; otherwise nothing wonderful can happen in the story that I will just tell you. If we were not completely convinced that Hamlet’s father was dead before the play began; there would be nothing strange in his nightly walk in the sharp east wind on the walls of his own castle. No more than any other middle-aged gentleman who; after sunset; quickly decides to take a walk in a breezy spot; for example; St. Paul’s Cemetery; merely to astonish his weak son.
—From this Book
By Charles Dickens