The most original figure in the affair is an elderly musician named Rodolfo Perez y Montalbot, who, according to Millet, consented to play the part of an expert. Wher possible purchaser expressed any doubt about a picture, Millet used to any "Let us consult M. de Montalbot, who is one of the leading, authorities about my grandfather's works," and thereupon '"M. de Montaibot, dressed for the part and provided with the usual magnifying glass, would be called in, examine every square inch of the picture, buck and front, scrutinize it from various angles, and finally declare Yt to be undoubtedly genuine.
Montalbot, who is over fifty years of age, is tall and thin and would pass very well for an incarnation of Don Quixote. Of Spanish birth, he came to Paris at the age of 24 with no fortune except a guitar and a food baritone voles.
He made his ig by singing in the streets and In one of these establish ments he made the acquaintance of Millet, and, according to his own account, took a fancy to him.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.