CHAPTER XXII
“THE MOVING FINGER WRITES—”
A HEARTRENDING scream broke from Millicent, and running to Noyes she flung herself at his feet.
“Alan, you never did it!” she protested vehemently. “You know you never did it.”
“Don’t,” he pleaded, grasping her hand weakly as the men helped him to the leather lounge. Once seated, he turned to Mitchell. “Take down what I say,” he commenced. “Miss Porter and I quarreled Monday evening, just before dinner, and I threatened to kill Brainard—”
“Why?” asked Mitchell as he paused.
Noyes avoided looking at anyone in particular. “Blind fury,” he admitted faintly. “I’ve been like that from a boy, whenever I couldn’t have my own way. I had just heard that Brainard was to marry the girl I loved—” His voice shook and he broke off abruptly.
Mrs. Porter rose; she had aged perceptibly. “I tried my best to shield you, Alan—I can never forget all you have done for my son; my gratitude—” She could not control her voice and paused, then resumed, more slowly: “Millicent would not trust me, would not confide in me. Fearing her diary, in which she had been foolish enough to betray her growing affection for you, Alan, and in which she mentioned you had threatened to kill Bruce, would establish a motive for the crime if the detectives found the diary, I burned it.” She shuddered. “Remember, Alan, you had run away—”
Noyes eyed her hopelessly. “There was nothing left for me to do but to go. As soon as my bag was packed I telephoned to my cousin, Mason Galbraith, who owns an estate across the river, and he met me at the wharf with his motor boat. I spent two days with him, but I had to come back to see—” He sighed and looked significantly at Mitchell. The pain of his wound and his conflicting emotions were wearing down his strength, and he felt that he could endure no more. “That is all, I think.”
“Just a moment.” Anthony stepped forward briskly. “Kindly answer a few questions. Why did you try to kill yourself in the cabin and where did you get your revolver?”
“I was despondent, discouraged when I left the court house, and went into a shop in Alexandria and purchased a revolver while Wyndham stayed in court to engage a lawyer.”