"Oh, no; merely going to make you swear to the facts you gave us."
"I'll do that willin' enough, sir."
They brought him before a notary public, and having written out his statement and secured his signature and oath, they let him go, after learning that Johnson did not return to his house since the body was found.
The Bradys were delighted.
When they reached the street, Harry cried:
"That Mason was a clever schemer. But we've foiled his plan to palm off a stranger's body for that of the missing broker. We must let Lizzie Dalton know how she was duped. There's every possibility yet that her father is still alive. With this doubt pending, the will need not be probated yet."
"Steps have already been begun to test the signature," said Old King Brady. "By this afternoon we shall know positively whether that signature to the will is a forgery or not."
"And if it is?"
"We'll have to run down Mason and make him pay the penalty of his crime," replied the veteran detective, decisively.
They then went up to the Dalton house.