"... Christmas is a time in which, of all times in the year, the memory of every remediable sorrow, wrong, and trouble in the world around us, should be active with us, not less than our own experiences...." The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, a Fancy for Christmas-Time, bookends the series of five Christmas stories by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) that began in 1843 with A Christmas Carol. Originally published in 1848, this dark yet redemptive novella strikes a balance between the pathos and comedic characterizations found in the greatest of Dickens' works.