"Tea-table Talk" is an imaginary conversation between the writer and a number of un-named characters at the afternoon tea table. The Woman of the World, the Old Maid, the Girton Girl, the Philosopher and the Minor Poet wax lyrical on subjects like marriage, art, society and politics.
The Holly Tree by Charles Dickens was originally published in 1855, being the Christmas number of Dickens's periodical Household Words. It was so popular that it was then adapted for the stage. It's a collection of short stories by Dickens, Wilkie Collins, William Howitt, Adelaide Anne Procter and Harriet Parr, around the theme of travellers and inns. I liked Collins's and Howlitt's stories the most.It begins with a story by Dickens, The Guest in which a gentleman on his way to Liverpool is snowed in at the Holly-Tree Inn in Yorkshire.
