There are some men who know a little about all things and a great deal about many.

Such a man was Cutty.

But as he approached the counter behind which stood an expectant clerk he felt for once that he was in a far country.

There were fiddles and fiddles, just as there were emeralds and emeralds.

Never again would he laugh over the story of the man who thought Botticelli was a manufacturer of spool thread.