answered Jim's statement.

"God," she said slowly, "_is_ in this tenement. God is everywhere,
Jim--everywhere! If I call on Him, He will help me!"

All at once Jim had swung her away from him, until he was holding her at
arm's length. He looked at her, from between narrowed lids, and there was
bitter sarcasm in his eyes.

"Call on Him, then," he taunted, "call on Him! Lotta good it'll do yer!"
The very tone of his voice was a sacrilege, as he said it.

Rose-Marie's eyes were blurred with tears as she spoke her answer to his
challenge. She was remembering the prayers that she had said back
home--in the little town. She was remembering how her aunts had taught
her, when she was a wee girl, to talk with God--to call upon Him in times
of deep perplexity. She had called upon Him, often, but she had never
really needed Him as she did now. "Help me, God!" she said softly, "_Help
me, God_!"

The Volsky flat was still, for a moment. And then, with surprising
quickness, the door to the inner room swung open. Jim, who was
standing with his back to the door, did not see the tiny,
golden-haired figure that stood in the opening, but Rose-Marie caught
her breath in a kind of a sob.

"I had forgotten Lily--" she murmured, almost to herself.

Jim, hearing her words, glanced quickly back over his shoulder. And then
he laughed, and there was an added brutality in the tone of his laughter.

"Oh--Lily!" he laughed. "Lily! She won't help yer--not much! I was sort
of expectin' this God that yer talk about--" The laughter died out of his
face and he jerked her suddenly close--so close that she lay trembling in
his arms. "Lily can't hear," he exulted, "'r see, 'r speak. _I'll take my
kiss--now_!"

It was then that Rose-Marie, forgetting herself in the panic of the
moment, screamed. She screamed lustily, twisting her face away from his
lips. And as she screamed Lily, as silently as a little wraith, started
across the room. She might almost have heard, so straight she came. She
might almost have known what was happening, so directly she ran to the
spot where Rose-Marie was struggling in the arms of Jim. All at once her
thin little hands had fastened themselves upon the man's trouser leg, all
at once she was pulling at him, with every bit of her feeble strength.

Rose-Marie, still struggling, felt an added weight of apprehension. Not
only her own safety was at stake--Lily, who was so weak, was in danger of
being hurt. She jerked back, w