'The Moon and Sixpence' by Somerset Maugham (chapter 21 - 32)

For that period of time Mr. Strickland changed greatly and his extreme thinness was striking. He had money neither for food nor dress, but he always found money for canvas ans paint; he did not care how shabby his room and had no need to surround himself by beautiful things. 

   To survive, Charles worked for the first time as a guide, showing Englishmen the sights (but his dress became then so threadbare, that people were afraid of him); then he translated the advertisements of patent medicines; was a house-painter. Meanwhile, the man did not give up his art. Strickland aspired to something but did not know what exactly; he lived in a dream and the reality meant nothing to him. But once Charles had  got a good commission to paint the portrait of a retired plumber fot two hundred francs; since then he dissapeared. 

   On Christmas Time Dirk Stroeve could not accept the fact that Charles would spend the holidays alone, without money sitting in his shabby little room, that's why he decided to invite him. However, Nobody saw Strickland; he was seriously ill. Being an unselfish man, Dirk sheltered him; his wife (though she despised and was afraid of Strickland) and he himself nursed the artist. When his health' state became better, Charles forced out Dirk from his studio, and then from his flat. Besides, Stroeve lost his wife, as she stayed with Strickland.