NETTA

   Not that Netta, half atrophied as she was in regard to conscious thought and action, was incapable of living her life or fulfilling the greater part of her desires efficiently.  She might get her way more or less unconsciously, but it would be with considerable precision, in much the same way as a somnambulist will step over obstacles and have regard for his own vital interests generally.  When she had told George to come round this morning, she had not at the time known why she had done so.  

   There was, however, an excellent reason.  The time had come when she had to get some money out of him, and because of all that Brighton chatter last night, when he had talked himself into a money-throwing mood, the time was ripe.

Excerpt:  Patrick Hamilton, Hangover Square of The Man With Two Minds: A Story of Darkest Earl’s Court in the Year 1939,  New York, Random House 1941.