The Midnight Visitor Important Questions Class 10 Footprints without Feet English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Who was in Ausable’s room? What was in his hand?
Answer
A man named Max was there in Ausable’s room. He was another secret agent. He had an automatic pistol in his hand.
Question 2. Who is Fowler and what is his first authentic thrill of the day?
Answer
Fowler is a writer. His authentic thrill of the day is finding a man with pistol in Ausable’s locked room.
Question 3. How has Max got in?
Answer
Max has a pass key. He has got in through the main door.
Question 4. How does Ausable say he got in?
Answer
Ausable says that he got in through the balcony of the room.
Question 5. Why and how did Max enter Ausable’s room?
Answer
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.
Question 6. How did Max get in?
Answer
Max got into the room with a passkey or a master key.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. How did Ausable behave to see Max in his room?
Answer
To see Max in his room Ausable remained cool and silent. He was not afraid of Max. He seemed to be angry with the management of the hotel regarding the balcony below the window of his room.
Question 2. Why was Ausable confident that Max would never return?
Answer
Believing Ausable’s story about the balcony to be true, Max stepped out, however, had concocted a very convincing story, and knew that what awaited hit was a drop from the sixth floor. Hence, he was confident that Max would never return.
Question 3. How did Ausable kill Max without using a weapon?
Answer
Ausable was an intelligent spy. When he found Max waiting for him in his room, he made a story of a balcony under his window. He convinced Max about the balcony. And thus, when someone knocked at the door, Max fearing it to be the police, jumped out of the window and died.
Question 4. How is Ausable different from other Secret Agents?
Answer
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.
Question 5. Why did Fowler come to meet Ausable? Was he able to achieve his target?
Answer
Fowler was a young and romantic writer. He had come to see Ausable know about the life of a secret agent. Fowler was fascinated n by them and thought of them as mysterious and romantic. He was not able to achieve his target as Ausable was a boring man.
Question 6. Describe Ausable.
Answer
Ausable was a secret agent. He was a fat and sloppy fellow. He was not a romantic figure. He had Wine to Paris from Boston twenty years ago. He could speak French and German passably. He had a style of his own in the American language.
Question 7. How did Max react when Ausable told him that the loud knockings at the door of the police?
Answer
Ausable cooked up the police’s story. He told that he himself had sought the protection of the police. The knockings at the door signaled their arrival. Max’s face was black with anger. Max swung a leg over the windowsill and shouted to send the police away. He threatened him to obey. If not, he would take his chances and shoot.
Question 7. Why did Fowler want to meet Ausable? Why was he disappointed?
Answer
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.
Question 8. Why did Fowler feel let down when he met Ausable?
Answer
Fowler felt let down and disappointed to meet Ausable. He had a different picture of a secret agent in his mind. He thought they should look to be very mysterious and romantic but he found Ausable a very fat and boring man.
Question 9. Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent. Comment.
Answer
Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent. He did not seem to be so smart, active, movable, aggressive an romantic as we read in books or see in films. He was very fat and sloppy. The crack of pistols, wine and dark-eyed beauties are normally associated with secret agents like James Bond. These qualities had nothing to do with Ausable.
Question 10. Describe Max as a secret agent.
Answer
Max was a secret agent and a rival and enemy of Ausable. He was slender, a little less than tall. He appeared crafty and had pointed countenance of a fox. There was nothing especially menacing about him except his pistol. He came to Ausable’s room to steal a very important paper concerning some new missiles. He is outwitted by Ausable and made to jump out of his window.
Question 11. Who actually had knocked at the door of Ausable’s room? Why did he come there?
Answer
Henry, the waiter was knocking at the door in hotel. Infact, Ausable had ordered for a bottle of wine and two glasses. When there was a knock at the door he reached as if policeman was at the door. He had come there as Ausable had ordered drinks before coming into the room.
Question 12. What made the story of the balcony so convincing?
Answer
Ausable showed his annoyance for the nuisance created by the balcony. He said that this was the second time that someone had got into his room through it. He also said that the balcony was not his but belongs to the next apartment and earlier his room used to be a part of a large unit.
Question 13. What position did Max take before he jumped out of the window?
Answer
Max kept his body twisted. In this way, he could keep his gun pointed at Ausable and Fowler. He grasped the frame with his free hand to support himself. He swung his other leg up and over the windowsill. The moment he heard the knocking getting louder at the door, he positioned himself to jump out of the window.
Question 14. What story did Ausable frame about calling the police?
Answer
As soon as there was a knock at the door, Max enquired of 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.
Question 15. Did Ausable know that it was the waiter who had knocked at the door?
Answer
Yes, Ausable knew that the man knocking at the door was the waiter. He had ordered him to bring a bottle of wine. And he knew that the waiter must have come with the drinks.
Question 16. Who is Fowler and what is his first authentic thrill of the day?
Answer
Fowler is a writer and he had come to meet Ausable. Fowler’s first authentic thrill of the day came when he saw a man in Ausable’s room pointing a pistol towards Ausable and himself.
Question 17. What is the important paper that Ausable talks of?
Answer
Ausable is a secret agent. He has been assigned an important job. He has an important paper regarding some new missiles under his custody. The paper may well affect the course of history. It is of so much importance that several men and women have risked their lives to get them. Even Max, a secret agent himself, comes to grab them from Ausable’s room.
Question 18. How did Max go out of Ausable’s room to save himself from the police?
Answer
Max was very nervous to find the police at the door. He went out of the window saying that he would wait in the balcony. He warned Ausable to send them away or he would shoot him. Max did not confirm the balcony and stepped out of the window and died.
Question 19. How does Ausable say he got in?
Answer
Ausable says 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 20. Did Fowler find this episode, thrilling or disappointing? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: Fowler found this episode very thrilling. He was much surprised by the tactful nature of Ausable. He cocked-up a story about the balcony and the police. He got the intruder, Max, killed without firing a shot.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. At the beginning of the story, Fowler felt disappointed with Ausable. Do you think Fowler had the same feeling towards the end of the story? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer
At the beginning of the story, Fowler felt disappointed with Ausable because he did not at all look like a secret agent of his imagination. He found him quite boring. He did not want to be with him anymore. But when he found Max in his room with a gun, he was thrilled. He found that Ausable was not at all perturbed. He cocked-up a story about the balcony outside his window. When the waiter knocked at the door, Ausable told Max that it would be the police. He told him that he had called the police for the security of that important paper. Hearing this Max jumped outside the window to the balcony. But there was no balcony. He fell down from the sixth floor and died. Thus, Fowler was thrilled to see all this. So towards the end of the story, he was not disappointed with Ausable.
Question 2. Sometimes, appearances can be very deceptive. How does this statement prove with this story?
Answer
Yes, it is true that sometimes we fail to identify the real personality of a man due to his different appearances. So, it can be said that appearances can be deceptive. Fowler was young and romantic. He was a writer of adventurous stories. Ausable was a secret agent—a detective. He faces danger in his work. So, Fowler wanted to meet him for some adventurous stories. But when he met Ausable in a French hotel with a damp corridor, Fowler felt disappointed. But Ausable proved himself after reaching his room. A man named Max was found inside Ausable’s room with a gun in his hand. Ausable at once proved that he possessed the quality of a true detective. He told Max about a balcony next to the window, and police at the door. Max believed him because Ausable’s way of talking was so real.
Question 3. “Presence of mind and intelligence are more powerful than gun”. How far is it true in case of Ausable, the secret agent?
Answer
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 r his tragic end. Ausable did not use physical strength but only his presence of mind.
Question 4. Though Max was very cunning, he was still but a little spy before Ausable. Explain.
Answer
Though Max was very cunning, he was indeed no match to Ausable. He was easily misled by Ausable into believing that there was a balcony attached to the room. He also made him fool by cooking up a false story about the police knocking at the door though he knew that it was the waiter. Ausable’s facial expressions were so normal that Max could not believe he was telling lies to him. Ausable was able to get rid of Max with very little efforts. So we can say that Max was “a little spy” before Ausable.
Question 5. What was Ausable’s problem? How did he solve it?
Answer
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 concocted story as true.
Question 6. How did Ausable use ‘the knock at the door in his favor? What light does it throw on his character?
Answer
Ausable was a secret agent. He was staying in a hotel. A guest named Fowler comes to meet him. Ausable gives an order to the waiter for a bottle of wine and two glasses. When they entered the room, they were surprised to see an intruder named Max in the room. That man had a pistol in his hand. After some time there was a knock at the door. Ausable knew that it was the waiter but he told Max that it would be the police. He said that he himself had called the police for the protection of the important report. Hearing this Max jumped out of the window on to the balcony. There was no balcony. He fell down and died. This episode shows that Ausable had great presence of mind. He was a clever spy indeed.
Question 7. What impression do you form of Ausable as a secret agent after reading the story “The Mid night Visitor”?
Answer
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 to the balcony and fell down dead. He was patient, fearless, courageous, ready-witted and resourceful.
Question 8. Describe in detail the two false stories planted by Ausable to get rid of Max, the secret agent of the rival organization. Did the false stories have the desired effect? Give a reasoned answer.
Answer
Presence of mind, quick reactions and a fertile brain more than compensated the fat and sloppy man, Ausable. His fertile brain and the stories he cooked up proved more than a match for a gun-wielding rival Max. Ausable started in a simple but natural way the story of the balcony below the window of his room. He was able to convince Max that his balcony had really become a nuisance. It was the second time in the month that somebody had got into his room. Actually, it was a clever trap for Max to fall in and the desperate and nervous Max did fall into the trap. He jumped out of the window in desperation to avoid being arrested or shot at by the police.
The second story related to the police was a masterstroke. It was the product of his fertile brain. Ausable knew that he could unnerve his gun-wielding rival by showing the threat of the police. He planted a false story that he himself sought the protection of the police. After all, the all-important report about the new missiles needed some extra protection. The loud knockings at the door signaled the arrival of the police. Max asked Ausable to send the police away. Ausable convinced Max that the police wouldn’t hesitate to shoot. In desperation, he jumped out, never to be able to come back again. Later on, Fowler found that the knockings at the door were done by the waiter. He entered with a tray, a bottle and two glasses.
Question 9. How did Max attempt but failed to acquire the secret paper from Ausable?
Answer
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.