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
slowly, carefully, thought about it, decided that it was excellent, and lay
down on his bed to consider it. At that moment it struck him that he had
better calculate how much he had spent in the last ten days. He gathered
himself into a sitting posture and counted his money; he had spent thirty
shillings, and at that rate his money would not hold out till the end of
the month. He must reduce his expenditure; but how? Impossible to find a
room where he could live more cheaply than in the one he had got, and it is
not easy to dine in London on less than ninepence. Only the poor can live
cheaply. He pressed his hands to his face. His head seemed like splitting,
and his monetary difficulty, united with his literary difficulties,
produced a momentary insanity. Work that morning was impossible, so he went
out to study the eating-houses of the neighbourhood. He must find one where
he could dine for sixpence. Or he might buy a pound of cooked beef and take
it home with him in a paper bag; but that would se