a funny nickname, just the same."

Maizie calmly declined to be thus easily suppressed.

"It suits me to know that Elsie heard about it," Marian said, after an
instant's vexed silence.

She knew better than to continue to oppose Maizie. For one of her
sluggish temperament, Maizie could turn decidedly disagreeable when she
chose.

"Yes, it comes in very nicely just now," drawled Maizie. "Elsie needs a
spur to keep her going. Keep her in a rage and she's a fine little
mischief-maker. Let her calm down and she's likely to crumple. She
really has some idea of principle, only she doesn't know it. I wonder if
she'll ever find it out."

"Do you mean to insinuate that _I_ haven't?" demanded Marian crossly.

"No; I say it plainly. Neither you nor I have any principle," declared
Maizie with her slow smile. "We might as well be honest about it. We
never are about anything else, you know. It doesn't worry me. It's
rather interesting, I think. Keeping things stirred up relieves the dull
monotony. There's always the chance that we may win. We have never won
yet, you know. We're still here, though, and that's a consolation. This
latest idea of yours ought to amount to something in the long run."

"Really, Maiz, you are the most cold-blooded girl I ever met!" Marian
cried out in exasperation. "Sometimes I feel as if I didn't understand
you at all."

"I don't pretend to understand myself," returned Maizie tranquilly. "It
would be too much trouble to try. Besides, self-analysis might be fatal
to my comfort. I might dig up a conscience, and that would be a bore.
I'd rather take it easy and smile and be a villain still. Changes are so
disagreeable. You'd find that out, if one came over me. You'd be minus a
valuable ally."

"Do you mean that as a threat?"

Marian laughed. There was, however, a note of anxiety in her question.
She had no desire to lose so valuable an ally as Maizie.

"A threat? No. Don't be scared. I'm still wandering along under the
Seaton banner. I suppose I'm rather fond of you, Marian. Don't know why,
I'm sure. You're thoroughly selfish, and we quarrel continually. That's
the real reason for it, I suspect. You keep things going. That's your
chief charm. Then, too, you've been fair enough with me. Whatever you
may do to others isn't my concern. I don't intend that it shall be. If I
were to start in the other direction I couldn't stop halfway. I'd keep
on going. Then where would you be? As I said before, 'Cha