Sentence:  Then he took to breeding silk-worms, which he <WSD>"would</WSD>" bring in two or three times a day, in little paper boxes, to show the old ladynb....<!-- or is this the habitual sense? --> 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Was determined to; loosely, could naturally have been expected to (given the tendencies of someone's character etc.). (from 18thc.)