CBSE Class 10 English The Midnight Visitor Assignment Set 02

Short Answer Type Questions
 

Question. One should never judge a book by its cover. Explain with reference to Ausable and how he outwits Max with his presence of mind.
Answer: Ausable’s character in “The Midnight Visitor” exemplifies the adage “never judge a book by its cover.” Despite his unassuming appearance, Ausable proves to be quick-witted and resourceful, outsmarting Max through his cleverness and presence of mind, which contrasts with his initial impression.

Question. Who was Henry? What role did he play in Ausable’s plans.
Answer: Henry was a waiter at the hotel where Ausable was staying in France. He unknowingly helped Ausable in his plan by knocking at Ausable’s door at the right moment. His persistent knocking helped Ausable in getting rid of the intruder.

Question. The various elements of Robert Arthur’s writing style 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, with reference to any one element.
Answer: The conversation between Ausable and Max is filled with half-truths and mystification, which creates a sense of ambiguity and heightens the story’s sense of mystery. The reader is left wondering about Max’s true motives and intentions, which adds to the sense of uncertainty and tension in the story.

Question. Discuss, briefly, the reasons owing to which Fowler was interested in meeting Ausable.
Answer: Fowler was a writer by profession. He wanted to meet Ausable, a secret agent, to learn about his interesting cases and how he solved them. He might be interested to use the information in creating his stories or drama.

Question. Ausable was always one step ahead of everyone. Highlight any two instances from “The Midnight Visitor” when this holds true.
Answer: In the first instance, Ausable guessed rightly what was going on in Fowler’s mind even in their first meeting. Later on, very cleverly he framed a story on the spur of the moment to move Max out of the room by telling him the fake incident of the balcony and the intruder.

Question. Henry unintentionally saved Ausable’s life. Briefly comment.
Answer: Henry had come to serve water in the room. But, Ausable took the benefit of his knocking at the door. He warned Max that it was police and he would be caught soon if he did not jump out of the window. In this way, Ausable was saved by Henry, though, intentionally.

Question. Ausable displays an acute sense of awareness of his surroundings. Justify with any two instances from the text.
Answer: Ausable displayed an acute sense of awareness of his surroundings at two incidence. He was fully aware of his hotel room’s entrance and exit. He confirmed it already that his room did not have an attached balcony. He had calculated well in advance the time for the waiter’s arrival for room service.

Question. How did Ausable befool Max about the balcony ?
Answer: Ausable was a very intelligent spy agent. When he found Max waiting for him in his room, he immediately thought of the plan. He told Max that there is a balcony from where people enter in his room that Max must have also entered from there. Max got convinced about the story and hence when someone knocked at the door, he ran towards the balcony to hide and died.

Question. Why was Ausable confident that Max would never return ?
Answer: Believing Ausable’s story about the balcony to be true, Max stepped out of the window. Ausable, however, had concocted a very convincing story, and knew that what awaited him was a drop from the sixth floor. Hence, he was confident that Max would never return.

Question. How and why did Max come inside Ausable’s room ?
Answer: Max had come into the room using a pass key. He had come to get the secret report about some new missiles which, he was sure, was with Ausable.

Question. 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 about the balcony and stepped out of the window and died.

Question. What made the story of 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. 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. Why was Ausable angry with the hotel’s management?
Answer: Ausable pretended to be angry with the hotel’s management to misguide Max. He said that he had complained to the hotel management to block off the balcony extended under the window of his room. They did not act upon and this was the second time in a month an intruder entered his room.

Question. Did Max really deserve to get a chance to accomplish a risky task ? Why/Why not ?
Answer: I do not believe that Max deserved a chance to accomplish a risky task, as he was neither very smart, not very intelligent. He did not even look threatening to Fowler except for his gun. A spy without these apparent qualities will most likely be a failure.

Question. Why did Fowler want to meet Ausable? Why was he disillusioned?
Answer: Fowler was a very young and romantic writer. He wanted to meet Ausable, the secret agent to learn how Ausable tackled with some exciting events. He was disillusioned because he thought Ausable was an unfit secret agent on account of his fat body and American accent.
 

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. “Despite his unusual appearance, Ausable’s presence of mind helped him get rid of Max.” Comment with reference to the story ‘The Midnight Visitor’.
Answer: In “The Midnight Visitor,” Ausable, despite not fitting the stereotypical image of a cunning and physically agile secret agent due to his unusual appearance, showcases his exceptional presence of mind and quick thinking. When confronted by Max, an adversary, in his hotel room, Ausable cleverly invents a story about a non-existent balcony and an imaginary police arrival. His ingenious bluff about the hotel room being under surveillance with the police due to arrive through a fictional balcony convinces Max. This mental agility and the ability to think on his feet enable Ausable to outwit Max, leading to Max’s panicked attempt to escape through the supposed balcony, which results in his downfall. Ausable’s sharp mind, therefore, compensates for his physical appearance, proving that intellect and psychological tactics can be far more effective in espionage than mere physical prowess.

Question. Ausable wins over a very critical situation by his sheer presence of mind without using any physical force. Justify giving examples from the text. Or Ausable has the ability to think quickly, act calmly and wisely in a situation of danger and surprise. Do you agree? Support your answer from the story that you have read. Or We need intelligence more than physical strength in a difficult situation. How is it proved true in the story, “The Midnight Visitor”?
Answer: Ausable wins over a very critical situation by his sheer presence of mind without using any physical force. When Ausable entered the hotel room he found Max Standing with a pistol aimed at him. Ausable showed no nervousness and sat in an armchair. He used his presence of mind and made up a story at once. He made Max believe that there was a balcony attached to his room. When there was a knock at door, Ausable took no time to announce that it was police to provide him extra protection as he was expecting an important paper. Max feared to be caught and to save his life he jumped through the window and met his end.
Ausable’s ability to think quickly, act calmly and wisely in a situation of danger and surprise gets him through unharmed.

Question. Ausable knew Fowler was very disappointed on seeing him. What did Ausable say to him and how did he console him? Or What impression do you form of Ausable as a secret agent after reading story “The Midnight Visitor”? Or Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read.” Elaborate, Justify from text?
Answer: Ausable knew that Fowler was pretty disappointed on seeing him. Fowler had been told that he was to meet a secret agent, a spy, dealing in espionage and danger. He had wished to meet Ausable because Fowler was a young and romantic writer who imagined a secret agent to be associated with mysterious figures in the night, the crack of pistols and drugs in the wine. Instead, Fowler had to spend a dull evening in a French music hall with a sloppy fat man who, instead of having messages slipped into his hand by dark-eyed beauties, got only an ordinary telephone call making an appointment in his room. Though Ausable’s appearance did not match that of a secret agent and he did not really fit the description of one, he was indeed a very intelligent and smart agent. Ausable understood Fowler’s disillusionment and told him to take cheer because he would presently see an important paper for which several people had risked their lives and that could well affect the course of history.

Question. How did Ausable use ‘the knock’ at the door in his favour? What light does this throw on his character?
Answer: There was a sudden knock at the door. Ausable knew it that the water had come to serve the drink ordered by him. He used his presence of mind and informed Max that it would be the police. Even in the most difficult situation when a man was standing aiming a pistol at him, he did not lose his nerves. He said that he demanded extra police protection and asked them to check on him regularly so nothing went wrong with him. He said that the room was unlocked and the police would not hesitate to shoot Max. Max unwittingly jumped outside the room and .got injured. Thus Ausable with his sheer intelligence got through an unimaginable difficult situation.

Question. How did Ausable get rid of Max? Or How did Ausable fool Max and get rid of him?
Answer: Ausable got rid of Max by using his intelligence, alertness and presence of mind. Max met his end by jumping out of a window, which Ausable said had a balcony outside, but there was no balcony and Max dropped down dead. Max’s own foolishness makes him an easy prey to Ausable’s clever thinking. When there was a knock on the door, Ausable told Max it was the police who had come to check on him. Max was convinced and in a bid to escape jumped out of the window without thinking.

Question. Ausable was a clever secret agent. Do you agree with the statement ? Justify your answer.
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. What information did Ausable give about the imaginary balcony ? Why did he do so ?
Answer: Ausable created a detailed description of how his room was part a bigger apartment and how the next room had a direct connection with a balcony. His statement that somebody else had also broken into his office through that balcony made it a convincing story. Ausable did this to fool Max into thinking tha a balcony existed just outside the window, as he knew that soon the waiter bringing the drinks he had ordered would be knocking at the door, which may prompt Max to jump into the imaginary balcony to hide.

Question. Give a brief character sketch of Fowler ? What are the values reflected in his character ?
Answer: Fowler is a young romantic writer, who loves reading mysterious stories. He has a fantasy to meet a secret agent or to see mysterious figures in the night, the crack of guns, drugs in wine, etc. He is not much interested in meeting dull people. He gets easily bored and disappointed.
Though he is a writer, he is very timid by heart. He easily loses his cool and gets nervous. The moment he enters Ausable’s room and his eyes meet Max with an automatic pistol in his hand, he is thrilled. He is scared, the moment he realises that it is a waiter and not the police who has knocked at the door. He wants to know about the man in the balcony. He has a horrible experience with Ausable tackling risky situations so calmly.

Question. How did Ausable get rid of Max ? Would you call the act of Ausable a violent act ? Do you support violence in prevention of crime ?
Answer: Max was in Ausable’s room with a pistol in his hand. When there was a knock at the door Ausable convinced Max that it was police. He excited him to hide himself on the non-existent balcony. Max, in terror, jumped from the sixth floor and met his end. No, it cannot be called nonviolence. Ausable saved himself but led Max to death. He made him jump from the eight floor. He concocted the story of a non-existent balcony and convinced him to hide there. He trusted him and jumped to death. Violence should never be supported but in prevention of crime it is inevitable. We cannot tackle the criminals without the use of weapons and violence is inevitable
.

Extract Based Questions

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read. Following him down the musty corridor of the gloomy French hotel where Ausable had a room, Fowler felt let down. It was a small room, on the sixth and top floor, and scarcely a setting for a romantic adventure.
Ausable was, for one thing, fat. Very fat. And then there was his accent. Though he spoke French and German passably, he had never altogether lost the American accent he had brought to Paris from Boston twenty years ago.
“You are disappointed,” Ausable said wheezily over his shoulder. “You were told that I was a secret agent, a spy, dealing in espionage and danger. You wished to meet me because you are a writer, young and romantic. You envisioned mysterious figures in the night, the crack of pistols, drugs in the wine.”

Question. Which of these describes how Fowler felt at the beginning of the extract?
(a) His heart sank.
(b) He was shaken up.
(c) His stomach was in knots.
(d) He was at the end of his rope.
Answer: (a) His heart sank.

Question. State one observation about Ausable based on the way he handled Fowler’s disappointment with him.
Answer: We can infer that Ausable was smart and quick-witted in the way he responded to Fowler’s disappointment.

Question. How did the atmosphere of the French hotel influence Fowler’s mood? Answer in 40 words.
Answer: 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.

Question. Which of these means the same as ‘romantic’ in the line below?
It was a small room, on the sixth and top floor, and scarcely a setting for a romantic adventure.
(a) great
(b) exciting
(c) idealistic
(d) passionate
Answer: (b) exciting

2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
“It’s not my balcony,” Ausable said with extreme irritation. “It belongs to the next apartment.” He glanced explanatorily at Fowler “You see,” he said, “this room used to be part of a large unit, and the next room-through that door there-used to be the living room. It had the balcony, which extends under my window now. You can get onto it from the empty room two doors down-and somebody did, last month. The management promised to block it off. But they haven’t.” Max glanced at Fowler, who was standing stiffly not far from Ausable, and waved the gun with a commanding gesture. “Please sit down,” he said. “We have a wait of half an hour, I think”

Question. State any one inference about the balcony spoken at length by Ausable from the given context.
The management promised to block it off. But they haven’t.
Answer: Ausable dropped a hint for Max that the balcony could be used for escaping in an emergency.

Question. State TRUE or FALSE.
None of the options from (a) to (d) can be applied to the given question or context- “It’s not my balcony,” Ausable said with extreme irritation. “It belongs to the next apartment.” When Ausable said this, what was he relying on?
(a) A hypothesis: Max had no idea about the balcony.
(b) An assumption: Fowler had no idea about the balcony.
(c) A premise: Only he knew that there was no balcony.
(d) A theory: The waiter had no idea about the balcony.
Answer: False. (option (c) can be applied to the given question or context)

Question. ‘It had the balcony, which extends under my window now. You can get onto it from the empty room two doors down-and somebody did, last month. The management promised to block it off But they haven’t.’
Why does Ausable explain the existence of a balcony at such great length to Fowler? Elaborate in about 40 words, with reference to the extract.
Answer: Max was armed. Ausable, sensing the danger, fabricated a story about the non-existent balcony. When there was a knock at the door, Ausable again fooled Max saying that it was the police. Max jumped out the window hoping to land on that non-existent balcony and died.

Question. Max told Fowler that they had to wait for a good thirty minutes for a paper to arrive.
The paper here refers to _____.
Answer: a report regarding some new missiles.

3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
Max was slender, a little less than tall, with features that suggested slightly the crafty, pointed countenance of a fox. There was about him - aside from the gun nothing especially menacing. “The report,” he murmured. “The report that is being brought to you tonight concerning some new missiles. I thought I would take it from you. It will be safer in my hands than in yours.” Ausable moved to an armchair and sat down heavily. “I’m going to raise the devil with the management this time, and you can bet on it,” he said grimly. “This is the second time in a month that somebody has got into my room through that nuisance of a balcony!”

Question. State True or False.
None of the terms (a) - (d) can be applied to the statement - The report that is being brought to you tonight concerning some new missiles.
(a) A hypothesis - a proposed explanation for a phenomenon
(b) An assumption - something that is taken for granted or assumed to be true
(c) A statement - a definite or clear expression of something in speech or writing.
(d) A premise - a proposition that forms the basis of an argument.
Answer: (c) A statement - a definite or clear expression of something in speech or writing.

Question. Which word replaces ‘sat down heavily’ in the sentence- Ausable moved to an armchair and sat down heavily’?
Answer: Flumped.

Question. Was there a balcony in Ausable’s room?
Answer: No. there was no balcony in Ausable’s room.

Question. How was Max described in the extract? Answer in about 40 words.
Answer: Max was described as slender, little less than tall with crafty features that suggested slightly the crafty, pointed countenance of a fox. There was about him-aside from the gun-nothing especially menacing.

4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
“Instead, you have spent a dull evening in a French music hall with a sloppy fat man who, instead of having messages slipped into his hand by dark-eyed beauties, gets only a prosaic telephone call making an appointment in his room. You have been bored!” The fat man chuckled to himself as he unlocked the door of his room and stood aside to let his frustrated guest enter.

Question. State any one inference about Detective Fowler from the given context.
“You have been bored!”
Answer: Detective Fowler's expectations about Ausable were belied because the latter was too fat to be a secret agent.

Question. State which of the options from (a) to (d) can be applied to the given statement or context.
(a) Aside- a direct address to the audience that other characters aren’t privy to,
(b) Monologue- a long speech delivered by a character during a conversation
(c) Point of View- narration of a story can be from a first, second, or third person’s point of view
(d) Soliloquy- a long speech with no audience in the story
Answer: (c) Point of View- narration of a story can be from a first, second, or third person’s point of view

Question. The speaker talks about many disappointments for the listener. Which was the primary cause of disappointment? Elaborate in about 40 words, with reference to the given extract.
Answer: The evening was rather unexciting with no beautiful girls hovering around. Fowler had spent a dull day waiting for some excitement but his biggest disappointment was Ausable —a sloppy, fat detective, not a dashingly dressed secret agent.

Question. Which phrase would correctly substitute ‘chuckled’ in the given sentence from the extract?
The fat man chuckled to himself as he unlocked the door of his room and stood aside to let his frustrated guest enter.
Answer: laughed quietly