Whenever Belton was to deliver an oration he always arranged his clothes the night beforehand.  So, on the Wednesday night of the week in question, he carefully brushed and arranged his clothes for the next day.  In the valedictory there were many really touching things, and in rehearsing it before his room-mate Belton had often shed tears.  Fearing that he might he so touched that tears would come to his eyes in the final delivery, he had bought a most beautiful and costly silk handkerchief.  He carefully stowed this away in the tail pocket of his handsome Prince Albert suit of lovely black.  He hung his coat in the wardrobe, very carefully, so that he would merely have to take it down and put it on the next day.

His room-mate watched his movements closely, but slyly.  He arose when he saw Belton hang his coat up.  He went down the corridor until he arrived at the room occupied by the Mississippian.  He knocked, and after some little delay, was allowed to enter.

The Mississippian was busy rehearsing his oration and did not care to be bothered.  But he sat down to entertain Belton’s room-mate for a while.  He did not care to rehearse his oration before him and he felt able to rout him at any time.  They conversed on various things for a while, when Belton’s room-mate took up a book and soon appeared absorbed in reading.  He was sitting on one side of a study table in the center of the room while the Mississippian was on the other.  Thinking that his visitor had now stayed about long enough, the Mississippian stooped down quietly and removed one shoe.  He slyly watched Belton’s room-mate, chuckling inwardly.  But his fun died away into a feeling of surprise when he saw that his shoeless foot was not even attracting attention.

He stooped down and pulled off the other shoe, and his surprise developed into amazement when he saw that the combined attack produced no result.  Belton’s room-mate seemed absorbed in reading.

The Mississippian next pulled off his coat and pretending to yawn and stretch, lifted his arms just so that the junction of his arm with his shoulder was on a direct line with his visitor’s nose.  Belton’s room-mate made a slight grimace, but kept on reading.  The Mississippian was dumbfounded.

He then signified his intention of retiring to bed and undressed, eyeing his visitor all the while, hoping that the scent of his whole body would succeed.

He got into bed and was soon snoring loudly enough to be heard two or three rooms away; but Belton’s room-mate seemed to pay no attention to the snoring.

The Mississippian gave up the battle in disgust, saying to himself:  “That fellow regards scents and noises just as though he was a buzzard, hatched in a cleft of the roaring Niagara Falls.”  So saying, he fell asleep in reality and the snoring increased in volume and speed.

Belton’s room-mate now took a pair of large new socks out of his pocket and put them into the Mississippian’s shoes, from which he took the dirty socks already there.  Having these dirty socks, he quietly tips out of the room and returns to his and Belton’s room.