The Count of Monte Cristo

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of coquettish straining after effect. Her dress, which was that of
the women of Epirus, consisted of a pair of white satin trousers,
embroidered with pink roses, displaying feet so exquisitely formed and
so delicately fair, that they might well have been taken for Parian
marble, had not the eye been undeceived by their movements as they
constantly shifted in and out of a pair of little slippers with upturned
toes, beautifully ornamented with gold and pearls. She wore a blue and
white-striped vest, with long open sleeves, trimmed with silver loops
and buttons of pearls, and a sort of bodice, which, closing only from
the centre to the waist, exhibited the whole of the ivory throat and
upper part of the bosom; it was fastened with three magnificent diamond
clasps. The junction of the bodice and drawers was entirely concealed
by one of the many-colored scarfs, whose brilliant hues and rich silken
fringe have rendered them so precious in the eyes of Parisian belles.
Tilted on one side of her head she had a small cap of gold-colored silk,
embroidered with pearls; while on the other a purple rose mingled its
glowing colors with the luxuriant masses of her hair, of which the