The Midnight Visitor

 

THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR

Question 1.How was Ausable different from other secret agents?

Answer: Ausable was different from other secret agents in more ways than one. He had a small room in the musty corridor of a gloomy French hotel. It was on the sixth and top floor and it was scarcely the setting for a romantic adventure. He was extremely fat. In spite of living in Paris for over twenty years, he spoke French and German with difficulty and had an American accent. Instead of getting messages passed secretly to him by beautiful girls, he got only a routine telephone call making an appointment. In his appearance and mannerism, he was different from the conventional notion of a secret agent.

 

Question 2.Who was Fowler and what was his first authentic thrill of the day?

Answer: Fowler was a writer and he had come to meet Ausable. His first authentic thrill of the day came when he saw a man in Ausable’s room pointing a pistol towards Ausable and himself.

 

Question 3.How has Max got in?

Answer:Max had got into the room using a passkey or master key.

 

Question 4.How does Ausable say he got in?

Answer: Ausable said that he thought Max had got into the room through the balcony. He said that it was the second time in a month that somebody had got into his room this way.

 

Question 1.‘Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read.” What do secret agents in books and films look like, in your opinion?

Answer: Secret agents in fiction are projected like ideal men, ‘Tall dark and handsome’. They are usually well-built and keep beautiful women for company. They would smoke a pipe (like Sherlock Holmes) or a cigar and execute death-defying stunts (like James Bond). Movies based on James Bond show hi-tech gadgets which assist the detective in countering villains.

 

Question 2. 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?

Answer: Ausable creates a detailed description of how his office was part a bigger apartment and how the next room had a direct connection with a balcony. His statement that somebody else also broke into his office through that balcony earlier made it a convincing story. Ausable’s ability to think quickly and calmly in a situation of panic makes it convincing.

 

Question 3. 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?

Answer: No, I don’t think that he had worked out his plan in detail earlier. He took advantage of events as they happened. Ausable was expecting the waiter as he had ordered drinks. He made up a story of the balcony outside the room and as there was a knock at the door, he said that it would be the police. All these made Max desperate. He became restless and without seeing below, jumped out of the window.

 

Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1.Why had Fowler wanted to meet Ausable? Why was Fowler disappointed?

Answer: Fowler was a writer and he had wanted to meet Ausable, a renowned secret agent. Fowler wanted to know how Ausable tackled dangerous situations. He was disappointed when he saw Ausable, as he didn’t look like what Fowler thought a secret agent should look like.

 

Question 2.Describe Ausable’s reaction after entering the hotel room. [CBSE 2014]

Answer: Initially Ausable got a shock to see Max in his room. But he remained calm. Max also had a pistol with him, so Ausable didn’t try anything fishy. He just kept his cool and fooled Max by using his brain to invent stories.

 

Question 3.‘Ausable shows great presence of mind in a situation of danger and surprise.” Do you agree with this statement? If yes, why?

Answer:Yes, I agree with this statement, as Ausable showed great presence of mind when Max pointed a gun at him when he entered the hotel room with Fowler, which surprised and endangered both of them. He remained calm and cool, inventing stories as required to fool Max into jumping to his death.

 

Question 4.Why did Max’s face turn black with anger? What did he want Ausable to do? [CBSE 2012]

Answer:Max’s face turned black with anger because he felt that his plan of extracting the important document from Ausable was in danger of failing due to the knocking on the door, which Ausable identified as the police. He wanted Ausable to send the police away.

 

Question 5.Why did Ausable frame the story of the balcony? [CBSE 2012]

Answer: Ausable framed the story of the balcony to fool the rival secret agent Max. Max would have been able to get the important report about the new missiles if Ausable had not concocted this story.

 

Question 6.How does Ausable manage to make Max believe that there is a balcony attached to his room?

Answer: Ausable creates a detailed description of how his office was part of a bigger apartment and how the next door room had a direct connection with the balcony. His statement that somebody else had also broken into his office through that balcony made it a convincing story.

 

Question 7.Who actually had knocked at the door of Ausable’s room? Why did he come there? [CBSE 2010]

Answer: The waiter in the hotel where Ausable stayed knocked at the door of Ausable’s room. He had brought the drinks which Ausable had ordered when he arrived in the hotel with Fowler.

 

Question 8. Why , do you think, the writer chose to characterize Ausable as short and fat?

Answer: The writer perhaps wants to give a strong message that the brain is what counts more than muscle power. He wants to draw attention to and emphasize that wit and mental ability to handle any grave situation is more important than physical strength and good looks.

 

Long Answer

Question 1. Ausable was a clever secret agent. Do you agree with the statement? Justify your answer. [CBSE 2012]
Answer: Ausable did not look at all like the conventional image of a secret agent. He was short and very fat. Besides, he spoke French and German which lacked fluency as well as the right accent; the American accent was quite palpable in his speech. However, Ausable had a very sharp and active mind because he invented two stories, one about a non-existent balcony outside his hotel window and another about the police arriving to give extra security to some important documents he was about to receive.
He was an intelligent man and a clever secret agent to be able to invent such stories on the spur of the moment in the face of imminent danger in the form of Max, a rival secret agent.

 

Question 3.Why did Max scream shrilly when he dropped to the balcony? [CBSE 2011]

Answer: A person screams shrilly when something unexpected happens to him. Here, Max screamed shrilly when he dropped to the ‘balcony’, because actually there was no balcony at all; it was only a figment of Ausable’s imagination. Ausable had described it so vividly, including its history and use, that Max was convinced there was a balcony just outside the window and tried to jump onto it without looking. As the room was on the sixth floor, Max would certainly have been died by falling from such a height.

 

Question 4. A calm mind can help you tackle direst stress. Explain.

Answer:Certainly, a calm mind can help us to tackle direst stress. If Ausable had panicked and done something fishy, then Max probably would have killed him. But Ausable kept his cool. Apart from this story, there can he some real life examples also. We are always told to focus when we are appearing for exams or not to panic in a difficult situation because such things hamper our thinking ability. We are not able to take proper decisions at this time. If we keep our mind cool and focus, then only can ,we find ways to get out of crunch situations.

 

Question 5. The various elements of Robert Arthur’s writing styles work together to create a sense of tension, uncertainty, and suspense, well suited to the mystery and suspense genre of the story, The Midnight Visitor. Comment.

Answer: The author has skillfully used short, punchy sentences to create suspense and urgency. These help to build momentum and keep the readers engaged. The conversation between Ausable and Max is filled with half truths and mystification, which create ambiguity and heightens the mystery. The pacing and plot development also contribute to the speed and suspense gradually revealing new information and plot twists that keep the readers on the edge. The twist in the tails is the icing on the cake.