The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-12-28
4 MODERN THET|s
BY IzoLA FORESTER.


JUDY was nineteen, Judy of Rest
Awhile farm, brown haired, brown
eyed, freckled, slender ana graceful as
q silver birch, with all the obstinacy
and pertinacity of the Gregorys con-
centrated in her general makeup.
Judy ran up the worn COW path to
the, fringe of brentwood and slipped
into it, bound for the sculptor's house.
Ever since early summer it had been
the house of wonder to her, the place
where beauty was a real tangible
thing. not a vague idea. First she had
been sent with eggs and butter and
fresh milk to him. His mother had
led Judy down the lane to the studio
he had made of an old woodshed. Here
she had seen him first, working among
his beautiful, silent figures and after
the first few visits he had asked her
to let him use her hands for his
statue of Diana Holding a Young
Fawn."
You have perfect hands, Judith
he told her in his absent-minded, i'm
personal way. you must let me make
casts of them"
Judy nodded understandingly. She
had always admired her hands.
81 like them,' she said to him. Il
don't think it's wrong to like them my
self, do you? The rest of me doesn't
match them, you see."
Then Whitney had looked at her for
the first time, really looked at her
slowly, deliberately, with artistic ap
proval.
Il think you're all right" he had
said. I'D like to use your head for
my Thetis. 1t has all of her elusive
challenge"
Judy had never heard of Thetis, but
in among the old high school books
was an old work on mythology, and
here Judy read of the elusive lady and
her pursuing, changeable wooer, and
it delighted her heart. Wooers should
pursue, she believed, and should be
given a hard chase, not Just come along
some day when they felt like it and
tell ones mother they were willing tt
marty you the way Hale Tuttle wa.
doing that very afternoon. 1t had beer
such wonderful summer and autumn
posing for Thetis' head and Diana'i
hands and some Egyptian girl whit
stood among lotus leaves and fed tn,
sacred crocodiles from her perfec
hands. She had forgotten all abou
Hale and his general intentions which
had been made manifest toward he
for years. Hale just seemed sort o
comical when you measured him VI
beside the Greek gods and Whitne.
Dewing
Judy turned breathlessly into tn,
lane to the little house among thu
naples and hesitated just for a sec
ond. A black roadster stood unde
the trees, and Mrs. Dewing had tn,
tea table out on the veranda Judy
quick eye saw Whitney strolling bacl
through the lane from the studio witt
a tall girl in a long gray cloak.
Come here, Judy, won't you, an,
join u.s." called Mrs. Dewing. "Yo
have just seen the statues, Alice, bu
here is the real live little Thetis.
don't know what Whitney would hav
done without her."
Judy smiled, with the Gregory pluc
even in defeat. And all at once, a
she sat there drinking tea with theI
all, hearing them make plans for tn
wedding before Christmas-all at ono
Judy opened her brown eyes wide
than usual and announced:
I'm going to be married, too. OF
I've been engaged for years, off an
on. No, indeed, the same one," blush
ing at Whitney's rallying teasin,
He's Judge Tuttle's only son, and
and-bravely-"I've always liked hil
best of anybody"
Hale Tuttle?" uueried Whitne,
Really, Judith? That big, fine-lookin
chap with the curly hair who supe
intended the work on the state roa
over here?'
Judy nodded proudly.
And just then 1t occurred to her q
at once that she had not told Ha
yet, that Hale was lingering ON bac
home, waiting for an answer, viii
she had run away to find the trail
romance, and 10. it only circle
around and led back over the CO
path through the silver birch wood [
Rest Awhile farm, and Hale waitir
for her.
Did you enjoy posing?" Alt
asked
Il did for Thetis," Judy answere
happily. Il liked her changing I'M
so many different forms, but she ha
to be herself at last. l guess we a
do. must hurry back. Hale's wal
ing for me-"