"Why, who gave you the news?" asked Harry, in surprise.
"Missy Lizzie, sah. She arrive heah ter-day, bress her heart, an' she seen yo' a-comin', an' done tell me fo' ter ask yo' right inter de parlor. She be downstairs in a moment, Massa Brady. Come right in, gemmen, come right in."
And he led the detectives into the parlor, flung open the blinds, and left the room.
In a few moments the door opened and Lizzie Dalton stepped into the room and approached them, with a smile and extended hand.
CHAPTER XIII.
NICK WIFFLES EXPLAINS A MYSTERY.
"So you found Ronald Mason prowling around the swamp, after you traced Sim Johnson down here from New York?" asked the broker's daughter, after the first salutations were over, and all were seated.
"We were under the impression that he had been making this house his abode," replied Old King Brady, in some surprise.
"No, indeed. George, the caretaker, declares that nobody but he and his wife have been in this house since you two gentlemen were here last."
"That is very strange," said the old detective.