Page:A Picture-book without Pictures and Other Stories (1848).djvu/117

 far; and yet they were as sinful as the warm blood of youth could make them—sinful here, in the temple before the statues of Fu and the holy deities. I knew where his thoughts were. In the most distant corner of the city, upon the flat, flagged roof, the parapet of which seemed to be made of porcelain, and where stood the beautiful vases in which grew large white campanulas, sate the youthful Pe, with her small roguish eyes, her pouting lips, and her least of all little feet. Her shoes pinched, but there was a more severe pinching at her heart; she raised her delicate, blooming arms, and the satin rustled. Before her stood a glass bow, in which were four gold fish: she stirred the water very softly with a beautifully painted and japaned stick. Oh, so slowly she stirred it because she was deep in thought! Perhaps she was thinking how rich and golden was the apparel of the fish, how safely they lived in the glass bowl, and how luxuriously they were fed; and yet, for all that, how much more happy they might be in freedom: yes, the idea distressed the beautiful Pe. Her thoughts passed away from her home; her thoughts went into the