She stared at him, then gurgled with laughter.
“I’m afraid I did! Though I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“Did someone or something frighten you?”
“Oh, my, no! I burned myself!”
“Oh,” said Landis blankly, “you burned yourself!” He made an effort to show interest. “Curling your hair?”
Ethel Graham laughed gayly.
“No! Thank goodness, it’s naturally curly! I leaned back on Ray’s cigarette.”
“And burned your hand on it?”
Ethel Graham looked slightly embarrassed.
“No. You see, Ray was reading and smoking in bed and I went in to pester him. I sat down on his bed and took his book away. Then I leaned back all of a sudden and his hand was there with his cigarette in it. He wasn’t expecting me to lean back quickly like that. So I burned myself!” She straightened and touched the small of her back reminiscently. “It startled me so and hurt so that I—well, I just yelped!”