Would it not be wiser , if she were to let the troublesome knot alone , and think no more about the box , but run and join her little playfellows , and be happy ? All this time , however , her fingers were half unconsciously busy with the knot ; and happening to glance at the flower-wreathed face on the lid of the enchanted box , she seemed to perceive it slyly grinning at her . `` That face looks very mischievous , '' thought Pandora . `` I wonder whether it smiles because I am doing wrong ! I have the greatest mind in the world to run away ! '' But just then , by the merest accident , she gave the knot a kind of a twist , which produced a wonderful result . The gold cord untwined itself , as if by magic , and left the box without a fastening . `` This is the strangest thing I ever knew ! '' said Pandora . `` What will Epimetheus say ? And how can I possibly tie it up again ? '' She made one or two attempts to restore the knot , but soon found it quite beyond her skill . It had disentangled itself so suddenly that she could not in the least remember how the strings had been doubled into one another ; and when she tried to recollect the shape and appearance of the knot , it seemed to have gone entirely out of her mind . Nothing was to be done , therefore , but to let the box remain as it was , until Epimetheus should come in . `` But , '' said Pandora , `` when he finds the knot untied , he will know that I have done it . How shall I make him believe that I have not looked into the box ? '' And then the thought came into her naughty little heart , that , since she would be suspected of having looked into the box , she might just as well do so , at once . O , very naughty and very foolish Pandora ! You should have thought only of doing what was right , and of leaving undone what was wrong , and not of what your playfellow Epimetheus would have said or believed . And so perhaps she might , if the enchanted face on the lid of the box had not looked so bewitchingly persuasive at her , and if she had not seemed to hear , more distinctly than before , the murmur of small voices within .
She could not tell XXXXX it was fancy or no ; but there was quite a little tumult of whispers in her ear , -- or else it was her curiosity that whispered , `` Let us out , dear Pandora , -- pray let us out !
about at beyond into of since than until whether with