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Updated: May 13, 2025
From this hidden receptacle he drew forth the complete uniform of a Uhlan lieutenant. "Turn your back for a little, Fraulein," he said softly. "I must make a small change in my toilet." He removed the muddy rubber suit and the helmet. Likewise, the smock, and baggy trousers, like those worn by Nicko the chocolate peddler. In a trice he clothed himself from top to toe as a Uhlan full lieutenant.
Swiftly she told him of her visit to the field hospital so much nearer the battle line than this quiet institution at Clair, and, in addition, told him of Nicko, the chocolate peddler, and his dual appearance. "There are two of the men. They dress exactly alike. I was suspicious of the peddler the very first time I saw him. No Frenchman not even a French soldier bows as I saw him bow."
You can easily find out about him." "True," murmured the secret agent eagerly. Then she told him of her walk in the gloaming and what she had seen in the garden of the peasant's cot the two men dressed exactly alike. One must be the half-foolish Nicko; the other must be the spy. M. Lafrane nodded eagerly again, pursing his lips.
Around a corner of a hut swung the surgeon, who was already the girl's friend. He all but ran against the slouching figure, and he spoke sharply to the man. For an instant the chocolate peddler straightened. He stood, indeed, in a very soldierly fashion. Then, as the quick-tempered surgeon strode on, Nicko bowed. He bowed from the hips and Ruth gasped as she saw the obeisance.
"But that in reality leads nowhere, Monsieur. Is that what you mean?" "Mademoiselle, Fate tricks us! This Nicko is one of those thrust out of this sector in haste because of military reasons. And the German Hauptman, who lay so long ill in that Hut H well, Mademoiselle, he has died!" Ruth was amazed, and for a time dumb. Should she bring Major Henri Marchand into the matter?
She had never seen such a figure before; and yet, there was something about the man that seemed familiar to the keen-eyed girl. "Who is he?" she asked a nurse standing with her at the door of a ward, and pointing to the man slouching along with his basket across the open way. "Oh, that? It is Nicko, the chocolate peddler," said the nurse carelessly. "A harmless fellow.
The chauffeur of their car, after a nod from Lafrane, started again. They passed the wagon, which was already trundling down the road. This cot was the last one at which Ruth saw anybody during that ride. For when they reached the hut of Nicko, the chocolate peddler, his place was likewise deserted. There were no neighboring houses. Lafrane got out at Nicko's cottage and searched the premises.
"But Major Henri goes back and forth, along the front, both by flying machine and in other ways?" Ruth asked. "I am sure I have seen him " She wanted to tell the countess how she had misjudged the major. But she hesitated. There was the matter of Nicko, the chocolate peddler, and the man who looked like him! Could that disguised man have been the major?
She almost spoke aloud in her amazement. The newcomer was dressed exactly as Nicko was dressed the same blue and ragged smock, shapeless trousers, wooden shoes, and with a hat the twin of the one the first Nicko wore. Indeed, it was a second Nicko who stood there in the bit of garden before the laborer's cot. But amazement and suspicion did not hold her to the spot for long.
"I am familiar with this territory," he said dryly. "We can strike it, I have no doubt, Mademoiselle. But I need you to verify the place and perhaps to identify the man." "Not the spy?" she gasped. "Nicko, the peddler." "I see. I will be with you in the courtyard at once, Monsieur." When she came out he was ready to step into a two-seated roadster, hung low and painted a battleship gray.
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