Monday, 24 December 2018
The Midnight Visitor
1. Give a brief
description of Ausable
.
Who is
Ausable? What
type of man
he was?
Ans :
Ausable is a
secret agent. But he
did not fit
as a secret
agent.
Ausable lived
in a small
room on top
of a French
hotel. He had full of
presence of mind. He
was very fat. He could speak French
and German but
he could not stop
his American accent. He
lived in Paris
where he befooled Max
showing him a
false balcony.
2. Who
was Fowler ?
Give a brief
description of his
meeting with Ausable
? [HSLC-2018]
Ans : Fowler was a
young romantic writer .
He envisioned
mysterious figures in
the night , the
crack of pistols
, drugs in wine .
He was
a writer of detective
stories . Ausable gave him
a telephone call
to meet him
in his rooms
. Accordingly he
came and met
Ausable in his
room . Ausable said over his
shoulder that he had
been told he
was a spy . Then Ausable
said that Fowler
must have felt
disillusioned . Then he told him
about a paper
for which several men and
women had risked
their lives . The letter
had come to
him . He added
that soon that
paper might affect
the course of
history. Then Ausable switched
on the light . Max
was surprised to see
in Ausable’s room a
man standing holding
a small pistol
. The man
holding the pistol
was Max .
Ausable asked him
what he had been
doing in his room .
3. Who
was Max ? Give
a brief description of
his conversation with Ausable
.[HSLC-2017]
Ans : Max was
a spy . Ausable
met him in
his room . It
seemed that they
had known each
other . Ausable thought that
Max was in
Berlin and was
surprised to find
him in his
room . Max entered the
room secretly while Ausable
was not there
. He was a
slender man of moderate
height . His pointed face
was like that
of a fox
that he was a crafty
person . He told Ausable that
he had come
with the idea
of taking the
letter from him as it would
remain safer in
his hands than in
Ausable . Then
Ausable wondered how
Max could get
into his room . He
wanted to raise
the matter with
the management . Then
with a view
to hoodwink Max ,
Ausable told him
about that imaginary
balcony through which
, as he suspected ,
Max had entered
his room . Max
said that he did
not enter the
room through any
balcony . He
entered using passkey .
Max added that
if he knew of
the balcony it might have
saved some trouble
.
4. What
did Ausable say
about the balcony ?
What purpose did
it serve ? [HSLC-2015]
Ans :
Ausable said about the imaginary
balcony to dupe
and hoodwink Max
whom he found in
his room while he was away .
Finding Max in his
room holding a pistol
and demanding the
report Ausable created
the scene of the
imaginary balcony .
When Max said
that he did not
know about the
balcony , Ausable replied
that it was not his balcony and
it belonged to the next
apartment . He
told Max that
his room used
to be a
part of a larger unit
and the next room
through that door used
to be the
living room and that
had the balcony . He added the
balcony extended under
his window .
He told that
Max could get on
to that
from the empty
room two doors
down . Further he said
that somebody got
down through that in
the previous month and
the management promised
to block that .
The balcony
served a big
purpose . To
escape from police
Max turned the
door knob , pushed with
his left hand
to free himself from
the sill and dropped to
the balcony .
He screamed once
shrilly and was
heard no more
. Ausable told
Fowler at the
end was no
balcony .
5. How
did Max try to
get the report from Ausable
?What happened to him
in the end and
how ?
Ans :
Ausable asked Max
how he came
to know about
the report .
Max smiled evilly
and asked in return
how Ausable’s men
got the same
report . He
added that he
would get the
report that night . Max was warning
the pistol to
threaten Fowler and Ausable
.
Just then a
sudden knocking at
the door was
heard . Max
Asked who there at
the window .
Fowler jumped . But
Ausable said that there must be some
policeman at the
door . He added that
such an important
paper for which
they had been waiting
must have some extra
protection . So he
called the police
to check him to
make sure that everything was
alright . Ausable asked Max
what he would want
to do .
Further he said
that if he
did not open
the door , they
would enter any
way . Max’s
face turned black
with anger and
he back swiftly
towards the window
. He asked
Ausable to send
the police way
. Otherwise he
threatened to shoot to take
his chances . The
knocking at the door
grew louder .
Finally
Max turned the
door knob ,
pushed with his
left hard to
free himself and
fell down through
that imaginary balcony .
Nothing more than
a shrill scream was
heard of him .
6. Briefly
describe how Ausable
defeated Max’s scheme to take
away the report
. [HSLC -2016]
Ans :
Ausable and Fowler
found inside Ausable’s small room
on top of the
sixth floor of a French
hotel . It was
late in the evening
when they entered the
room . The room
had been closed
and as reported by
Max , he entered
the room opening
the door .
He said this
when Ausable tactfully
mentioned of a balcony and asked
Max if he had
entered the room
through the balcony
. Max was
holding a pistol and
threatened to have the report .
In
the mean time
Ausable gave a
vivid description of the imaginary balcony
. He said that
the balcony was
a part of
the next apartment
and it extended
to his window
to his window. He even
said that the
management v had assured to
block it .
Naturally Max and
Fowler were convinced
about the existence
of the balcony .
Just
then there was
heard a knocking
at the door
and it grew
louder and more
frequent . Asked by
Max Ausable said that
he had collected
the police to provide
extra protection to
the report . Hearing about
the police Max went
near the window
and with one of
his legs put
on the sill he threatened to
shoot the policeman
. When the knocking
grew louder , Max
with a view
to escaping from
police pushed with
his left hand
. His idea
was that he
would land on the
balcony . But he
fell down .
Only a shrill scream
of his was
heard .
7. Who, between Ausable
and Max, do you
think is more
intelligent ?[HSLC-2020]
Ans :
Undoubtedly Ausable is
more intelligent than Max. The
progress of the
story justifies Ausable
more intelligent nature and his
approach to solve
the problem .
He was a
cool headed person
who did not raise
any hue and
cry when he found
Max holding a
pistol in his locked
room . Ausable was
so prudent and
quick witted to deceive
Max’s threat he created
the story of that balcony
which was nothing
but a figment
of imagination .
He also created
the scene of
knocking at the
door of the room to let
Max know that policeman were there
at the gate .
Finally , believing in
Ausable’s words he wanted
to escape through the
balcony which was really
not there . He
fell down to where
he did not
know . Only
a shrill was
heard as his
last voice .
Thus
Ausable with his
presence of mind frustrated Max’s
design and got
rid of him
. Ausable’s activities
proved him to be
more intelligent than
Max.