t upon the paper, and
nothing was to tempt them to speech, save at the stroke of the hour when
ten minutes for relaxation were to be allowed them. If these rules
were observed for a year, she made out on a sheet of paper that the
completion of the book was certain, and she laid her scheme before her
mother with a feeling that much of the task was already accomplished.
Mrs. Hilbery examined the sheet of paper very carefully. Then she
clapped her hands and exclaimed enthusiastically:

"Well done, Katharine! What a wonderful head for business you've got!
Now I shall keep this before me, and every day I shall make a little
mark in my pocketbook, and on the last day of all--let me think, what
shall we do to celebrate the last day of all? If it weren't the winter
we could take a jaunt to Italy. They say Switzerland's very lovely in
the snow, except for the cold. But, as you say, the great thing is to
finish the book. Now let me see--"

When they inspected her manuscripts, which Katharine had put in order,
they found a state of things well calculated to dash their spirits, if
they had not just resolved on reform. They found, to begin with, a great
variety of very imposing paragraphs with which the biography was
to open; many of these, it is true, were unfinished, and resembled
triumphal arches standing upon one leg, but, as Mrs. Hilbery observed,
they could be patched up in ten minutes, if she gave her mind to it.
Next, there was an account of the ancient home of the Alardyces, or
rather, of spring in Suffolk, which was very beautifully written,
although not essential to the story. However, Katharine had put together
a string of names and dates, so that the poet was capably brought into
the world, and his ninth year was reached without further mishap. After
that, Mrs. Hilbery wished, for sentimental reasons, to introduce the
recollections of a very fluent old lady, who had been brought up in the
same village, but these Katharine decided must go. It might be advisable
to introduce here a sketch of contemporary poetry contributed by Mr.
Hilbery, and thus terse and learned and altogether out of keeping with
the rest, but Mrs. Hilbery was of opinion that it was too bare, and made
one feel altogether like a good little girl in a lecture-room, which was
not at all in keeping with her father. It was put on one side. Now came
the period of his early manhood, when various affairs of the heart must
either be concealed or revealed; here