Class 10 English Chapter 3 Question Answers - The Midnight Visitor

Q1: How is Ausable different from other Secret Agents?
Ans: Ausable was very fat. He looked very slow. He had an American accent. He had no pistol or any other arms. So, he was different from the others.

Q2: Why did Fowler want to meet Ausable? Why was he disappointed?
Ans: Fowler was a young romantic writer. He had a fine imagination about spying and secret agents. He loved adventure and thrill. So he wanted to meet Ausable who was engaged in collecting sensitive information. He was disappointed after spending a dull evening in a French music hall with a fat, sloppy man as there was nothing mysterious or romantic about him.

Q3: “Presence of mind and intelligence are more powerful than gun”. How far is it true in case of Ausable, the secret agent?
Ans: Ausable did not at all have the conventional image of a secret agent. He was short and very fat. However, Ausable had a very sharp and active mind. When he entered his hotel room with Fowler he found Max with a gun in his room. Max was an agent of another organisation. Ausable, with presence of mind, invented a story of non-existent balcony. Max was convinced about existence of balcony, and this led to his tragic end. Ausable did not use physical strength but only his presence of mind.

Q4: Who is Fowler and what is his first authentic thrill of the day?
Ans: Fowler is a writer. His authentic thrill of the day is finding a man with a pistol in Ausable’s locked room.

Q5: What was Ausable’s problem? How did he solve it?
Ans: Ausable was a secret agent in an organisation. He had gone out with Fowler to spend the evening in a French music hall. When they returned to Ausable’s room in the hotel, they found Max standing in the middle of the room. He had a revolver in his hand. Ausable did not lose his calm. With unique presence of mind, he fabricated a story. He said that it was the second time someone had entered his room through the balcony under the window. Max took the story as true.
Instantly, there was a knocking on the door. Max got panic-stricken when Ausable remarked that the police were at the door. He had requested them to provide him extra security. Max was bewildered. He went towards the window and jumped on the non-existing balcony from the sixth floor. Max met with his death. Thus, Ausable’s problem was solved.

Q6: How can you show that Ausable showed great presence of mind in situation of danger and surprise?
Ans: Ausable showed great presence of mind when Max pointed a gun at him as he entered the room with Fowler. Though his looks were not mysterious but with his presence of mind he cooked up the story of non-existent balcony. Max, though smart, was fooled by Ausable and even lost his life.

Q7: Who actually had knocked at the door of Ausable’s room? Why did he come there?
Ans: Henry, the waiter, was knocking at the door in hotel. In fact, Ausable had ordered for a bottle of wine and two glasses. When there was a knock at the door, he reacted as if policeman was at the door. He had come there as Ausable had ordered drinks before coming into the room.

Q8: Where and why did Ausable take Fowler?
Ans: Ausable brought Fowler to his room, which was on the sixth floor of a hotel. He wanted Fowler to have some thrill and excitement as he was expecting some important papers to be delivered there.

Q9: Why and how did Max enter Ausable’s room?
Ans: Max wanted those important papers from Ausable so he entered his room secretly from the main door. He had managed to get the pass key to open the door.

Q10: What story did Ausable frame about calling the police?
Ans: As soon as there was a knock at the door, Max inquired about it. Ausable told him that he had already informed the police to check if everything was okay at intervals because of the important papers. Ausable told Max that they were on their duty to check.

Q11: “Telling a lie is sin and killing someone is a crime”. Why then Ausable told lies more than once and killed Max?
Ans: Of course, morally Ausable had done wrong. But his profession allowed him to take such steps when the security and integrity of the nation were at stake. He did not tell lies and killed Max for his own sake but for his country. He is a true soldier to protect the country from inside.

Q12: "A procrastinator is someone who delays action and invites tragedy upon himself." Is Max a procrastinator? Why or why not?
Ans: No, Max is not a procrastinator. He did not delay the action of his own. He had to wait until the paper he was seeking, arrived. He was overconfident and foolish enough to be duped by Ausable so simply and easily. He believed Ausable and did not confirm anything himself.

Q13: What impression do you form of Ausable as a secret agent after reading the story “The Midnight Visitor”?
Ans: Ausable was a determined secret agent. He was dedicated to his work. He was agile in action even though he was a sloppy fat man. He was sane and shrewd. Being calm and cool headed by nature he did not lose his presence of mind when he found Max in his room with a revolver. It was midnight. He cooked up a false story of a balcony existing under the window just to befool the intruder.
Instantly they heard a knock at the door. Ausable remarked that the police had come to check on him and to provide him security. Getting nervous, Max rushed towards the window. He dropped down to the balcony and fell to his death. He was patient, fearless, courageous, ready-witted and resourceful.

Q14: How did Max attempt but failed to acquire the secret paper from Ausable?
Ans: Max’s organisation had ordered him to grab the secret report on missiles which the people of Ausable’s organisation had managed to get. He used a passkey and entered Ausable’s hotel room at midnight. He was holding a revolver in his hand since he intended to grab the report at pistol point. Ausable invented the fake story of a balcony extending under his window just to embarrass Max.
He remarked that it was the second time in the month that somebody had got into his room through that’ balcony. Instantly there was a knock at the door. Ausable’s remark that police had arrived to check on him unnerved Max. To save his life, Max rushed towards the window. In hot haste, Max dropped to the non-existent balcony and met his tragic end. Thus, he failed to acquire the secret paper.

Q15: How does Ausable manage to make Max believe that there is a balcony attached to his room?
Look back at his detailed description of it. What makes it a convincing story?
Ans:
Ausable tells Max that someone entered his room through the balcony earlier also. He also told him that ^ he had asked police to give him protection as he had some important papers with him. On listening this, Max became nervous and just wanted to escape from police and as a result, without noticing, he jumped . out of the window and fell down. Ausable’s ability to think quickly and calmly in a situation of panic, makes it convincing.

Q16: Looking back at the story, when do you think Ausable thought up his plan for getting rid of Max? Do you think he had worked out his plan in detail right from the beginning? Or did he make up a plan taking advantage of events as they happened?
Ans: No, I don’t think that he had worked out his plan in detail right from the very beginning. He took advantage of the events as they happened. Ausable made a story of the balcony outside the room and as there was a knock at the door at the same time, he told it would be police. All these events threatened Max. He became restless and without seeing, jumped out of the window hurriedly.

Q17: In this story, Ausable shows great ‘presence of mind’ or the ability to think quickly and act calmly and wisely, in a situation of danger and surprise. Give examples from your own experience, or narrate a story, which shows someone’s presence of mind.
Ans: This story is in reference to the play ‘If I Were You’. Gerrard was captured by a criminal and when he pointed a gun towards him, Gerrard treated the criminal as a guest and trapped him in his confidence. He succeeded in making the criminal to run away as police was behind him. He told the criminal to run through the exit door, which was actually a cupboard door. The criminal exited through the door and was caught in the cupboard.

Q18: How did the atmosphere of the French hotel influence Fowler's mood?
Ans: The French hotel is described as 'gloomy', 'musty' and 'small'. This sombre atmosphere of the hotel added to Fowler's feeling of disappointment. He expected a grand atmosphere of mystery and danger, and was disappointed by the reality of the situation. 

Q19: Henry unintentionally saved Ausable’s life. Briefly comment.
Ans: Henry was a waiter in the same hotel in which Ausable was living in. Henry, fortunately, knocked at the door, when Ausable was convincing Max about an imaginary balcony. Assuming that it was police at the door, Max desperately jumped through the window. Hence, Ausable was saved.

Q20: How is Ausable different from other secret agents?
Ans: Fowler was disappointed on seeing Ausable who was unlike other secret agents. According to him, the secret agents are tall, smart, agile, dashing and alert people surrounded by darkness, pistols and drugs in the wine. On the contrary, Ausable was fat and sloppy with heavy American accent. He was not at all flashy or romantic like other agent.