Kate said, "That's ridiculous. Miss Frohmann and I are quiet as mice, and that Osgood fool knows it."

"Like I said, I don't know anything about it. Mister Osgood says you and Miss Frohmann spend a lot of your time together. I guess maybe it keeps him awake, you visiting back and forth."

Erika, standing behind Kate at Mrs. Brownlee's kitchen door, entered the conversation although she hadn't been invited to. "I don't think I am a bad tenant," she said coldly, "and I pay my rent on time too. But if it disturbs the other people in the house to have us here, we'll be glad to move. Tomorrow."

"Oh no, Miss Frohmann, that won't be necessary. If Miss Wood wants to go, I'm sure—Mister Osgood only—"

"Mister Osgood is a stupid lecherous bastard." Erika let her thoughtful gaze rest on Mrs. Brownlee's face, now turning purple. "Miss Wood and I will be out tomorrow. I hope you’ll find a tenant who suits Mister Osgood. Maybe you could let him do the interviewing. He doesn't want peace and quiet, what he wants is a free lay."

She shut the door behind them, leaving Mrs. Brownlee in popeyed shock on the other side. "Bitch," she snapped angrily.

"Why me?" Kate's voice shook; she was ready to cry. She stood holding the backstairs railing. "Why me?"

"Because you wouldn't go to bed with him. He never asked me, I'm flat-chested." Erika considered, her profile clear against the dirty plaster of the back hall. "It's us of course, and he knows about the drinking too."

"Oh no."

"They always do."

"It's my fault. You were getting along all right till I came."

"Darling, does everything have to be your fault? Can't anything just happen? What is all this guilt?"

"I'm not guilty."

"Then why do you keep punishing yourself?"

Kate's face set. Erika touched her arm lightly. "Never mind. Now we go out and buy the paper, a good thing it's Saturday, and look in the ads for a nice clean apartment with no bugs and no mice and no Osgoods. Could we live in one room if we had a bathroom of our own? Would we fight if we didn't have another room to go into and shut the door?"

"The question is, can we afford a bathroom of our own?"

"It won't cost more than two separate rooms—a silly way to live anyhow. Will we get tired of being so much together?"

"I'd like to be with you the rest of my life."

Erika sighed. "Who knows what's the rest of anyone's life? Let's think about moving tomorrow."

They bought the evening papers at the corner stand and walked home through the dusk, not touching but side by side and in step. "Maybe we can find a place close to my school," Erika said. "I'd like to walk on good days."

"I'm going to get a job."

"When you're ready."

"Erika, do things like this happen very often? To people like us, I mean."