'The Moonlight Cross of the Gnostics!' he exclaimed. 'You carry this
about in your breast pocket? Put it away, put it away! The thing
seems to be alive.'
In a second, however, and before I could answer him, the expression
passed from his face, and he took the cross from my hands and
examined it.
'This is the most beautiful piece of jewel work I ever saw in my
life. I have heard of such things. The Gnostic art of arranging
jewels so that they will catch the moon-rays and answer them as
though the light were that of the sun, is quite lost.'
We then went and examined Jamrach's menagerie. I found that one
source of the interest D'Arcy took in animals was that he was a
believer in Baptista Porta's whimsical theory that every human
creature resembles one of the lower animals, and he found a perennial
amusement in seeing in the faces of animals caricatures of his
friends.
With a fund of humour that was exhaustless, he went from cage to
cage, giving to each animal the name of some member of the Royal
Academy, or of one of his own intimate friends.
Pages:
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426