You couldn't have made Clarice Lessing believe that whatever their limitations, people weren't entitled to help simply because they needed it.
It had come upon Peter by leaps and bounds during the last two or three years, both the wealth and the necessity of putting it to himself in terms of personal expression.

During the first ten years of the partnership, the only use for money the simple needs of Ellen and himself had established was to put it back into the business; a use which had become almost an obligation during the time when both children and opportunity were coming to Julian faster than the cash to meet them.
It was due to the high ground that Clarice had made for them all out of what she and the children stood for, that Peter's superior cash contribution to the firm had become a privilege.

They had had, he and Ellen, their stringent occasions; it had been Clarice's part to see that since they endured the pinch of poverty they should at least get something human out of it.

It came out for Peter pleasantly as he walked home through the mild June evening, just how much they had had.

Much, much more than they would have been able to buy with the money they might in strict equity have withdrawn from the business.