What is the normal routine when Jem goes to read to Mrs. Dubose?

Jem destroys Mrs. Dubose's camellias in a fit of rage.  As penance, he must read to her for two hours a day, six days a week.  Each day, Jem and Scout go to Mrs. Dubose's house with a book.  When they first arrived every day, "Mrs. Dubose would hound Jem for a while on her favorite subjects" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11).  These topics were also two of Jem's least favorites.  She talked with disgust about how Atticus Finch was defending a black man.  She also talked about the camellias Jem had destroyed.  Eventually she became silent and seemed to drift off into a world in her own mind.  Eventually, an alarm clock would sound and her hired woman would come in and dismiss them.  She mentioned that it was time for Mrs. Dubose to take her medicine.

Time went on and this routine continued.  The alarm clock sounded later and later in the day.  The children never left before the alarm clock went off, so they stayed longer and longer each day.