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.
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