“No, you wouldn’t, because you were sleep-walking.” Murray’s statement brought a cry, a glad cry from Noyes.
“I caught a glimpse of you, Millicent,” he broke in before the amazed girl could speak, “just as I went down to the library to wait for my telephone call. You were coming out of your mother’s boudoir and I saw something glitter in your hand, but was too far away to make out in the dim hall light what you were carrying. Thinking you were going to your brother’s room I went downstairs.”
“How long did you remain in the library?” asked Mitchell.
“Until nearly four o’clock. Before returning to my room I went to see how Brainard was getting along, and was stupefied to find him dead.” Noyes chose his words with care. “I recognized the razor as one of a set which Mrs. Porter had given me that morning. I remembered that I had left the set in her boudoir, and recalled my glimpse of Millicent, and that she was advancing toward Brainard’s door; I feared that in a moment of mental aberration she had killed him. The thought was agony.” Noyes almost broke down as he met Millicent’s adoring eyes. “I decided that if I left the house I might be thought guilty; the razor was mine, I had threatened to kill Brainard, so I went—”
“But not before I saw you coming from Bruce’s bedroom,” added Millicent. “I had no idea I had been walking in my sleep, for I awoke in my bed, and being unable to sleep I got up and partly dressed, intending to go in and sit with Vera and my brother. Your expression, Alan, as you walked away from Bruce’s bedroom terrified me, and gathering my courage I went there—saw Bruce—the razor—” She caught her breath—
“Recalling your threat to kill Bruce, I imagined you had carried it out,” she went on, as no one spoke. “I crept back to my bedroom, horrified beyond words, and later it occurred to me that perhaps Bruce was not beyond medical aid, and I rushed downstairs to telephone Dr. Thorne—” She stopped, unable to go on. “I secured the set of razors and first hid them in an old trunk in the attic, then in the cannon—the rest you know.”
Noyes, rising with some difficulty, stepped forward, and with a manner not to be denied, slipped his one arm about her waist, and led her across the room. Dorothy, standing nearest the heavy mahogany door as it slowly closed behind the pair, saw Millicent’s head droop forward and her discreet ears alone caught Noyes’ low whisper:
“Mine, at last!”
Silence prevailed in the library for some minutes after the departure of Millicent and her lover, then Thorne turned to Murray.
“Was Miss Millicent in the room when you killed Brainard?” he asked.