the sidewalks. The chauffeurs began to look anxious. Honestly,
they did!

Andrew Barrett had shown to the other shop-keepers the Valiquet designs
and told them to watch for the great jewelers' astounding coup. He
booked twenty-two orders for the next week.

At two o'clock the artists sallied forth once more. The throngs opened
for them to pass. Those spectators who had put off lunching to see the
epoch-making stunt were rewarded. They saw four perfectly attired
gentlemen in top-hats, carrying dazzling escutcheons worthy of the
premier jewel-shop in the world.

The six, walking professionally, carried the most beautiful boards ever
seen, with these legends:

[Illustration: THIS BOARD DESIGNED BY VALIQUET'S PREMIER JEWELERS OF
AMERICA]

[Illustration: WONDERS OF THE WORLD! THE OLD WORLD HAD SEVEN! THE NEW
WORLD HAS ONLY ONE: VALIQUET'S]

They were followed by the six picked sandwiches, in their
working-clothes, but with wonderful boards.

[Illustration: FOR SILVER AND GOLD, PEARLS, DIAMONDS, RUBIES, EMERALDS,
EXCLUSIVE DESIGNS VALIQUET'S WHO DESIGNED THIS BOARD]

[Illustration: VALIQUET'S OFFICIAL DESIGNERS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
SANDWICH ARTISTS]

The sandwich was the thing!

The sandwich-men were merely artists.

The spectators recalled that ultimately all men and all women must
become sandwiches.

It made New-Yorkers realize that Death was still on the job. This gave
them something to talk about that night at dinner, before dancing.

Also three hundred and fifty thousand people saw the O. K. of "_H. R._"

It is easy to remember two letters.

It was an extraordinary sensation. The big shops emptied themselves. In
McQuery's and Oldman's and Mann & Baker's the rush to the Avenue doors
was so great that floor-walkers who tried to stem the tide were crushed,
manlike, by the women and borne, half-clad, upon the sidewalk. The
proprietors looked at the crowds, heard the same remark, "What is it?"
by the tens of thousands, saw the sandwiches, saw the looks on the tens
of thousands of faces, and said, "Damn!"

They had not heard the knock of opportunity, and Valiquet's had. No
wonder the jewel firm's regular two-hundred-per-cent. quarterly
dividends were regular. It wasn't the big profit in gems; it was the
cars!

The proprietors blamed their advertising managers.

The triumphal march of the sandwiches was more than a success, more than
a sensation. It was an event. The four top-hatted histrions then