Albert expected to have something new this time to show to the
traveller, but, to his great surprise, the latter, without seeking
for the signatures, many of which, indeed, were only initials, named
instantly the author of every picture in such a manner that it was easy
to see that each name was not only known to him, but that each style
associated with it had been appreciated and studied by him. From the
salon they passed into the bed-chamber; it was a model of taste and
simple elegance. A single portrait, signed by Leopold Robert, shone in
its carved and gilded frame. This portrait attracted the Count of Monte
Cristo's attention, for he made three rapid steps in the chamber, and
stopped suddenly before it. It was the portrait of a young woman of five
or six and twenty, with a dark complexion, and light and lustrous eyes,
veiled beneath long lashes. She wore the picturesque costume of the
Catalan fisherwomen, a red and black bodice, and golden pins in her
hair. She was looking at the sea, and her form was outlined on the blue
ocean and sky. The light was so faint in the room that Albert did not
perceive the pallor that spread itself over the count's visage, or the
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