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The Sleeping Bride

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In England, Armand Villette stops at a roadside café for tea. Inside the Jaguar are Aurora Hawkins and Aunt Blandina Paxton, who is disoriented. After tea, they drive away.

The beautiful Aurora is engaged to the artist Philip Nash after a month's acquaintance. While in her flat preparing to leave, Aurora gets a disturbing phone call. She tears up a newspaper and runs. Plain stepsister Lydia Deering has not seen Aurora for years. She goes to her flat, finds the door unlocked, and sees a newspaper that has been taped together. Moments later, when she returns with neighbor June Birch--the door is locked and the paper is gone. While there, Lydia speaks on the phone with Philip, their first contact. She arranges to meet him at the train station and go to her parents with him. She is surprised by his appearance and regrets his engagement quickly.

Philip stays at the Wheatsheaf while the two stepsisters stay with their parents. Aurora says the newspaper contained an article about a traffic accident. She shows Lydia a heavy gold pendant and says it was given to her by her employer--Armand, a solicitor. Just before the family meets Philip for dinner, a phone call comes for Aurora. She is strangely excited but says nothing. After dinner, Aurora walks with Philip partway to the Wheatsheaf. It is not until morning that everyone realizes she is missing.

Soon Lydia receives a letter from Aurora saying she has run off with her old flame. She also asks for the gold pendant, but Lydia refuses. The mysterious newspaper contains an article about an elderly woman found dead at the bottom of a cliff. Lydia goes to Aurora's flat. There she reads a pathetic letter from the elderly Clara Wilberforce, who is worried that her missing sister will not send the rent money in time. Neighbor June Birch stops by and speaks of a well-dressed man who visits Aurora at night. Over Philip's objections, Lydia stays in Aurora's flat.

In the middle of the night, Clara Wilberforce begs admittance. She has been evicted because her sister Blandina has not sent her money. Blandina, who had married well, sent her money as a familial duty but did not want any additional contact with Clara. Slightly addled, Clara lugs around a bag full of letters she has written and mailed to herself. Lydia goes to see Armand Villette--a dull, middle-aged man. He is shocked to find out about Clara's existence--as Blandina, his aunt by marriage, suppressed the information. In fact, Armand has many, many aunts--including one named Honoria, who lives on the Continent. He says Clara should join Blandina, who has moved out of her hotel and into his country house named Greenhill. Aurora calls her mother and asks her to tell Lydia to leave the gold pendant with Armand. A man pressures her to make this call. Armand sees Aurora's flat for the first time when he goes to tell Clara to pack for Greenhill. Anxious, Clara begs Lydia to go with her. Philip visits Armand's office and is told the new secretary has been fired. He takes the pendant to a jeweler, who appraises it at £25.

Lydia goes to Greenhill with Clara and Armand. He makes her a very strong martini to confuse her thinking. She goes upstairs and sees Blandina, who is lying ill in bed. Clara goes on and on about how different her sister seems, though they have not seen each other in 20 years. Lydia sees no servants except a tall, young gardener names Jules, whose bearing is very arrogant. He drives Lydia to the train station, but Lydia walks back to Greenhill to see Blandina standing in vigorous health at the window.

Philip is angry when Lydia returns on a later train. They go to his apartment; but their promising date is interrupted by a nonsensical call from Aurora, who asks to be picked up and then laughs it off. Lydia leaves alone and miserable. Even Clara sends her a dismissive letter.

Meanwhile, Clara resents that Blandina dictates her letter to Lydia, but Clara is unable to go to the post alone. Inside her tote bag, she finds a note that says everyone in the house is a murderer. She ignores this as vindictive. Lydia receives a letter from Clara with a strange postscript speaking of illness. She and Philip visit Greenhill, but Blandina is skulking. Lydia tips the letter bag over, so she can surreptitiously gather some to read later. Armand appears at the front door in the manner of a guest, surprising everyone. Lydia and Philip visit Clara's doctor, who says she has had a slight stroke. One of the letters Lydia swiped is from Aurora, who sent her £5.

They return to Aurora's flat, where they find June Birch has been knocked down by an intruder. Somewhere else, a man wakes Aurora and says they have to move. This man is making her take sleeping pills every day. Outside her room Aurora hears a man say he is afraid his wife is leaving him. Philip goes to the hotel where Blandina had stayed for many years and draws a sketch of her. The clerk identifies the pendant as belonging to Blandina but does not recognize the sketch. Philip advertises in the newspaper for friends of Blandina to help him, and the roadside café owner responds. He says Blandina is definitely not the woman in the drawing.

Lydia and Philip go back to Greenhill, which is empty. They go to the police, who then positively identify the old woman who fell off a cliff as Blandina Paxton. Armand had power of attorney, and £40,000 had disappeared from her account. He is found dead of a suicide in his office. Jules drives "Blandina" and Clara to Brighton and leaves them. Eventually, "Blandina" deserts Clara, who is identified by a waitress.

Jules, "Blandina," and Aurora are holed up in the isolated house of George Browne, whose wife Susie has run off to Paris. Jules alters George's passport for his own use. "Blandina" is actually Jules's aunt Honoria Chabrier, and she also is fleeing the country. Joyce Walker, the secretary who was fired, calls Lydia thinking she is Aurora. She happens to observe that Armand is young and his chief clerk, George Browne, is middle-aged and worried that his wife is leaving him. Joyce tells Lydia George's address. Lydia and Philip tell the police but also go out to George's house, where they find Aurora drugged on sleeping pills. The police soon catch the real Armand Jules Villette, who is running in the fields. Honoria is caught at the London airport. Aurora in the hospital admits her strong infatuation with Armand, who had dispatched many such "aunts." Armand had promised her they would marry, but promises turned into threats. Aurora made the mistake of telling Armand that Blandina had given her the pendant for being kind, and he found out that Aurora had concealed Clara's existence. She was the one writing the messages of warning. Lydia calls Philip to tell him Aurora will recover. Philip comes over to the flat and embraces Lydia.