is. I like to be that kind of an idiot. I
do not claim to be able to build a cathedral, however. I don't suppose
I could even build a boarding-house like this, but what I should like to
do in architecture would be to put up a $5000 dwelling-house for $5000.
That's a thing that has never been done, and I think I might be able to
do it. If I did, I'd patent the plan and make a fortune. Then I should
like to know enough about the science of planning a building to find out
whether my model hotel is practicable or not."

"You have a model hotel in your mind, eh?" said the Bibliomaniac.

"It must be a very small hotel if it's in his mind," said the Doctor.

"That's tantamount to saying that it isn't anywhere," said Mr. Pedagog.

"Well, it's a great hotel just the same," said the Idiot. "Although I
presume it would be expensive to build. It would have movable rooms, in
the first place. Each room would be constructed like an elevator, with
appliances at hand for moving it up and down. The great thing about this
would be that persons could have a room on any floor they wanted it, so
long as they got the room in the beginning. A second advantage would lie
in the fact, that if you were sleeping in a room next door to another in
which there was a crying baby, you could pull the rope and go up two or
three flights until you were free from the noise. Then in case of fire
the room in which the fire started could be lowered into a sliding tank
large enough to immerse the whole thing in, which I should have
constructed in the cellar. If the whole building were to catch fire,
there would be no loss of life, because all the rooms could be lowered
to the ground-floor, and the occupants could step right out upon solid
ground. Then again, if you were down on the ground-floor, and desired to
get an extended view of the surrounding country, it would be easy to
raise your room to the desired elevation. Why, there's no end to the
advantages to be gained from such an arrangement."

"It's a fine idea," said Mr. Pedagog, "and one worthy of your mammoth
intellect. It couldn't possibly cost more than a million of dollars to
erect such a hotel, could it?"

"No," said the Idiot. "And that is cheap alongside some of the hotels
they are putting up nowadays."

"It could be built on less than four hundred acres of ground, too,
I presume?" said the Bibliomaniac, with a wink at the Doctor.

"Certainly," said the Idiot, meekly.

"And if anybody fell