Mrs. Scott bought a new house last year. The walls of the room had been painted a short time before, and Mrs. Scott liked the colors. But the person who had sold her the house took the curtains with him, so Mrs. Scott had to buy new ones. Of course she wanted those that would match the walls of her rooms. She discovered that her comb was exactly the same color as these walls. So she always took it with her whenever she went to look for cloth for curtains.

 In one shop she showed the shopkeeper the comb and then looked at various kinds of cloth for curtains for half an hour with him, until he got tired and said to her, “Madam, wouldn't it be easier just to buy some cloth you like and then find a new comb to go with that?”

问题：The walls of the room had been painted（） .