“He is so nervous,” said the landlord, “I don’t dare put any one in that room. The least noise might give him a nervous spell that would endanger his life.”
“Oh, give me a room,” said the traveler. “I’ll be so quiet he’ll not know I’m there.”
The room was given the traveler. He slipped in noiselessly and began to disrobe. He took off one article of clothing after another as quietly as a burglar. At last he came to his shoes. He unlaced a shoe and dropped it.
The shoe fell to the floor with a great noise. The offending traveler, horrified at what he had done, waited to hear from the nervous man. Not a sound. He took off the second shoe and placed it noiselessly upon the floor; then in absolute silence finished undressing and crawled between the sheets.
Half an hour went by. He had dropped into a doze when there came a tremendous knocking on the partition.
The traveler sat up in bed trembling and dismayed. “Wh-wha-what’s the matter?” he asked.
Then came the voice of the nervous man:
“Hang you! Drop that other shoe, will you?”