the calculation how long he could live on such a sum took him some time.
His breakfast, whether he had it at home or in the coffee-house, would cost
him at least fourpence. He thought he would be able to obtain a fairly good
dinner in one of the little Italian restaurants for ninepence. His tea
would cost the same as his breakfast. To these sums he must add twopence
for tobacco and a penny for an evening paper--impossible to do without
tobacco, and he must know what was going on in the world. He could
therefore live for one shilling and eightpence a day--eleven shillings a
week--to which he would have to add six shillings a week for rent,
altogether seventeen shillings a week. He really did not see how he could
do it cheaper. Four times seventeen are sixty-eight; sixty-eight shillings
for a month of life, and he had eighty shillings--twelve shillings for
incidental expenses; and out of that twelve shillings he must buy a shirt,
a sponge, and a tooth brush, and when they were bought there would be very
little left. He must finish his play under the month. Nothing could be
clearer than that.

Next morning he asked the landlady to let him have a cup of tea and some
bread and butter, and he ate as much bread as he could, to save himself
from being hungry in the middle of the day. He began work immediately, and
continued until seven, and feeling then somewhat light-headed, but
satisfied with himself, went to the nearest Italian restaurant. The food
was better than he expected; but he spent twopence more than he had
intended, so, to accustom himself to a life of strict measure and
discipline, he determined to forego his tea that evening. And so he lived
and worked until the end of the week.

But the situation he had counted on to complete his fourth act had proved
almost impracticable in the working out; he laboured on, however, and at
the end of the tenth day at least one scene satisfied him. He read it over