HOLMES IN DISGUISE INTERVIEWS WATTLES 199 "'YOU DID TOO!' SAID POLLY" 203 "'HOOT MON!'" 209 "A SWEET-FACED NURSE APPEARED" 213 TAMMAS MEETS DRUMSHEUGH 221 MR. JONES BEGINS 231 HE DID NOT SEE 243 THE STENOGRAPHER SLEPT 247 [Illustration: The Dreamers: A Club] THE DREAMERS: A CLUB I THE IDEA The idea was certainly an original one. It was Bedford Parke who suggested it to Tenafly Paterson, and Tenafly was so pleased with it that he in turn unfolded it in detail to his friend Dobbs Ferry, claiming its inception as his very own. Dobbs was so extremely enthusiastic about it that he invited Tenafly to a luncheon at the Waldoria to talk over the possibilities of putting the plan into practical operation, and so extract from it whatever of excellence it might ultimately be found to contain. "As yet it is only an idea, you know," said Dobbs; "and if you have ever had any experience with ideas, Tenny, you are probably aware that, unless reduced to a practical basis, an idea is of no more value than a theory." "True," Tenafly replied. "I can demonstrate that in five minutes at the Waldoria. For instance, you see, Dobbsy, I have an idea that I am as hungry as a bear, but as yet it is only a theory, from which I derive no substantial benefit. Place a portion of whitebait, a filet Bearnaise, and a quart of Sauterne before me, and--" "I see," said Dobbsy. "Come along." [Illustration: DISCUSSING THE IDEA] And they went; and the result of that luncheon at the Waldoria was the formation of "The Dreamers: A Club." The colon was Dobbs Ferry's suggestion. The objects of the club were literary, and Dobbs, who was an observant young man, had noticed that the use of the colon in these days of unregenerate punctuation was confined almost entirely to the literary contingent and its camp-followers. With small poets particularly was it in vogue, and Dobbs--who, by-the-way, had written some very dainty French poems to the various _fiancées_ with whom his career had been checkered--had a sort of vague idea that if his brokerage business would permit him to take the necessary time for it he might become famous as a small poet himself. The French poems and his passion for the colon, combined with an exquisite chirography which he had assiduously cultivated, all contributed to assure him that it was only lack of time that kept him in the ranks of the mute, inglorious Herricks.