How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You needn't 'a' brought me bread an' butter," said her father. "But a cup of tea"—he sipped appreciatively—"it's very nice." He sipped for a moment or two, then: "I hear as Walter's got another bout on," he said.
"When hasn't he?" said the woman bitterly. "I heered tell of him in the 'Lord Nelson' braggin' as he was going to spend that b—afore he went: half a sovereign that was." (1.27-29)
Very early on in the story, we learn that Elizabeth's husband is quite the pub-crawler and revels in spending tons of money on that "hobby."
Quote #2
"Aye, it's a nice thing, when a man can do nothing with his money but make a beast of himself!" said the grey-whiskered man. The woman turned her head away. Her father swallowed the last of his tea and handed her the cup. (1.33)
Apparently Elizabeth's pops doesn't think too highly of his son-in-law's alcohol-drenched ways, particularly when that means wasting money getting wasted.
Quote #3
He had probably gone past his home, slunk past his own door, to drink before he came in, while his dinner spoiled and wasted in waiting. (1.36)
Elizabeth spends the early part of the story absolutely fuming that Walter has not come home on time, since his dinner will spoil and the family will be kept waiting until they give up. Based on a long list of his previous offenses, she assumes that he's out at the pub.
Quote #4
"He'd watch that," said the mother bitterly, "he'd take care as you didn't see him. But you may depend upon it, he's seated in the 'Prince o' Wales.' He wouldn't be this late." (1.44)
After asking if Annie had seen her father, Elizabeth outright suggests that Walter would have hidden from his own child in passing to avoid being caught heading off to the pub. Oh no he didn't.
Quote #5
"It'll want mending directly," replied her mother, "and then if your father comes he'll carry on and say there never is a fire when a man comes home sweating from the pit. —A public-house is always warm enough." (1.53)
Elizabeth imagines that her husband is brazen enough to miss dinner without notice to go boozing and then come home complaining that the house is cold (and use that as an excuse for why he's always at the nice warm pub).
Quote #6
"It is a scandalous thing as a man can't even come home to his dinner! If it's crozzled up to a cinder I don't see why I should care. Past his very door he goes to get to a public-house, and here I sit with his dinner waiting for him—." (1.59)
Justifiably, Elizabeth is honked off at the notion that her husband would not let anyone know he wasn't coming home, causing the food she had prepared to be wasted. You definitely get a sense that she's been through this several times before.
Quote #7
"No," she said, "not to me. It was chrysanthemums when I married him, and chrysanthemums when you were born, and the first time they ever brought him home drunk, he'd got brown chrysanthemums in his button-hole." (1.76)
When Annie asks Elizabeth if she likes the smell of chrysanthemums, Elizabeth answers with a big fat no. Apparently, among other things, that smell reminds her of the first time her husband was carried home drunk. Seems reasonable they wouldn't have the best connotations, then.
Quote #8
". . . And this is what I came here for, to this dirty hole, rats and all, for him to slink past his very door. Twice last week—he's begun now—." (1.78)
Ah, yes, now we get a sense of why Elizabeth just assumes that her husband is late because he's off drinking—he did the same thing twice last week.
Quote #9
Elizabeth's thoughts were busy elsewhere. If he was killed—would she be able to manage on the little pension and what she could earn? —she counted up rapidly. If he was hurt—they wouldn't take him to the hospital—how tiresome he would be to nurse! —but perhaps she'd be able to get him away from the drink and his hateful ways. She would—while he was ill. The tears offered to come to her eyes at the picture. (2.54)
Before she learns of his death, Elizabeth contemplates a scenario in which she might be called on to help nurse him back to health, which could involve getting him off the sauce. Although she laments that he would be a pain to nurse, she also seems attracted to the idea of helping him reform a bit.
Quote #10
At last it was finished. He was a man of handsome body, and his face showed no traces of drink. He was blonde, full-fleshed, with fine limbs. But he was dead. (2.123)
At last, Walter appears pure as the driven snow, with no signs of his heavy drinking or the coal dust that usually covered his body when he got home. However, the notable downside is that he had to be dead to achieve this purity . . .