He would then have been compelled to work harder, and to use what he made in procuring the necessaries of life.

There might have been some hope for him then.

As it was, his profession was the mere grasping after the honor of a workman without the doing of the work; while the little he gained by it was, at the same time, more than enough to foster the self-deception that he did something in the world.
With the money he gave her, which was never more than a part of what his mother sent him, Letty had much ado to make both ends meet; and, while he ran in debt to his tailor and bootmaker, she never had anything new to wear.

She did sometimes wish he would take her out with him a little oftener of an evening; for sometimes she felt so lonely as to be quite unable to amuse herself: her resources were not many in her position, and fewer still in herself; but she always reflected that he could not afford it, and it was long ere she began to have any doubt or uneasiness about him--long before she began even to imagine it might be well if he spent his evenings with her, or, at least, in other ways and other company than he did.

When first such a thought presented itself, she banished it as a disgrace to herself and an insult to him.