"Polly, my dear," she said, as she burst into the room, "there are new fields for you to work in." Then she unfolded her plan.
"Oh, Miss Ferguson," Polly began.
"Janet, please. If I Polly you, you must Janet me."
"Dear Janet, then," said Polly kissing her cheek, "I never heard of such luck. Will I do? Do you think I look the kind of girl she wants to suggest? Can I do what she wants? You know I know so little about anything, and I am so green and awkward."
"Can you sit still for twenty minutes at a time? Can you stand for as long?"
"What a question. Of course I can do that."
"That is all there is to it. You don't have to stand a tiptoe like a flying Mercury, nor twist yourself into contortions like a Laocoon. You simply have to be an ordinary girl under ordinary circumstances doing ordinary things. I know you have those casts in the Museum in mind, but you are not an antique, my dear, and are not expected to be for many years to come. Miss Thurston will probably dress you up in costumes to suit her subjects, but you won't mind that; it is part of the requirements of a model, you know; and there will be nothing objectionable in the whole performance; in fact I should think you might get considerable fun out of it."
"Oh, I understand all that; and I am willing to wear anything, from a Greek dress to the most elaborate costume of a modern belle."
"Then you are all right. Good-bye, Pretty Polly Perkins. You'll be 'as beautiful as a butterfly and as proud as a queen,' like the other Polly Perkins of Abington Green. Ted and I are going with you, so you won't be scared at the lay figure and the skull in Miss Thurston's studio. Friday afternoon, sweetness."
And Janet hastened back to the theme she had left uncompleted in order to make this visit.