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The final two paragraphs that concluded 'The Guest' (p. 581) - Dickens' opening contribution to The Holly-Tree Inn - were the framework link that allowed Dickens to introduce the five interpolated stories which followed. In the version of The Holly-Tree Inn that Dickens prepared for his collected Christmas stories, a version which excluded the stories not by himself, he changed and greatly reduced the first paragraph and eliminated the second paragraph altogether. See note to The Holly-Tree Inn [1855 Christmas].

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

The interpolated story told in 'The Ostler' is by Wilkie Collins. The Introduction (from the beginning, p. 581, to 'he complies with my request', p. 582) and Conclusion (from 'At this point of the narrative' to the end, p. 590) to 'The Ostler', however, is part of the framework of The Holly-Tree Inn - part, that is, of the linking and bridging sections that Dickens usually wrote himself. See notes to The Seven Poor Travellers and The Holly-Tree Inn [1855 Christmas].

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

The interpolated story (in the form of a narrative poem) told in 'The Barmaid' is by Adelaide Anne Procter. The Introduction to 'The Barmaid' [the opening paragraph, p. 30], however, is part of the framework of The Holly-Tree Inn - part, that is, of the linking and bridging sections that Dickens usually wrote himself. See notes to The Seven Poor Travellers and The Holly-Tree Inn [1855 Christmas].

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

The interpolated story told in 'The Poor Pensioner' is by Harriet Parr ('Holme Lee'). The Introduction [from the start to 'Her name, as I learnt on further inquiry, was Hester', p. 603] and Conclusion [from 'After this, her money being lost or exhausted' to the end, p. 607] to 'The Poor Pensioner', however, is part of the framework of The Holly-Tree Inn - part, that is, of the linking and bridging sections that Dickens usually wrote himself. See also The Seven Poor Travellers and The Holly-Tree Inn [1855 Christmas].

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.

Neither the opening nor the concluding paragraphs, which link the story to the framework, are set off typographically from the story itself. Miss Parr reprinted the entire item. 

Dickens wrote the whole of 'The Bill,' but in 1867, when he decided to separate his contribution to The Holly-Tree Inn from the rest of the Christmas number and reprint his share in an edition of his collected Christmas stories, he left out or rewrote those passages (such as the opening paragraph, p. 607) which referred to segments not by him. Editions of the Collected Works have reprinted these writings (usually under the title Christmas Stories) in their 1867 form. See note to The Holly-Tree Inn [1855 Christmas].

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.