Sentence:  Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The <WSD>idea</WSD> that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  More generally, any result of mental activity; a thought, a notion; a way of thinking. (from 17th c.)