Mid Night Visitor
Mid Night Visitor
Mid Night Visitor
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.
2. How did Max go out of Ausable’s room to save himself from the
police?
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 stepped out of the window,
but there was no balcony and he fell to his death.
5. What did the secret agent tell Max when he heard the knock?
The secret agent told Max that it would be the police when he heard the
knock. He said that he had called the police in order to have extra
protection for the report.
6. Did Ausable know that it was the waiter who had knocked at the
door?
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.
7. Was there a balcony outside the window? Give instances from the
text in support of your answer.
No, actually there was no balcony outside the window. Ausable had
tricked Max about the balcony. When Max dropped himself to the
balcony, he screamed. He fell down to the ground from the sixth floor. In
the end, Ausable told Fowler, “No, he won’t return.”
8. Describe Ausable.
Ausable was a secret agent. He was a fat and sloppy fellow. He did not
have romantic or a mysterious personality. He could speak French and
German passably and had an American personality which he had
brought to Paris from Boston twenty years ago.
1. Pride before a fall befits Max, who said: “I will get it back
tonight.” Was he successful? What lesson can be learnt from this?
Max was a spy who was overconfident and proud about himself. His
pride blinded him, and he thought that wielding a gun would give an
edge over the seemingly slow Ausable. However, despite this apparent
pride and confidence, Max was utterly unsuccessful. Ausable outwitted
him without lifting a finger. Max, in fact, jumped to his own death by
taking Ausable’s words at face value. Thus, one learns that one should
not be proud and must pay attention to the fine details before
attempting to do anything.
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 and impressed with Ausable.
4. Though Max was very cunning, still he was but ‘a little spy’ before
Ausable. Explain.
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 danger in the form of
Max, a rival secret agent.
Think about it
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? Discuss in groups or in class some stories or movies
featuring spies, detectives and secret agents, and compare their
appearance with that of Ausable in this story. (You may
mention characters from fiction in languages other than English. In
English fiction you may have come across Sherlock Holmes, Hercule
Poirot, or Miss Marple. Have you watched any movies featuring
James Bond?)
Secret agents in fiction are projected like ideal men, ‘Tall, dark and
handsome’. They are usually well-built. 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. However, there are some exceptions
to this appearance of a secret agent also. A character named Feluda was
created by Satyajit Ray, the famous Bengali filmmaker. Feluda was a tall
athletic figure who relied on his superb analytical ability and observation
skill.
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 sound even
more convincing.
No, I don’t think that he had worked out his plan in detail earlier. He
took advantage of events as they occurred. Ausable made up a story
about the balcony because he knew the waiter was to arrive with the
drinks later. So when the waiter arrived with the drinks, he told Max that
he called the police for extra protection. All these things made Max
desperate. He became restless and without looking below, he jumped
out of the window.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
Q1 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that
follow.
Max had come to grab the important report about the new missiles from
Ausable.
iii. How had Max got into Ausable’s room?
Max has got into Ausable’s room by using a pass key for unlocking the
room.
iv. Find a word from the extract which means ‘spoke breathing
noisily and heavily’.
wheezed
(b) 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!” Fowler’s eyes went to the single window of the room.
iv. Find a word from the passage which means ‘something that
causes problem’.
nuisance
(b) Why did so many people risk their lives to get the report?
Several men and women had risked their lives to get the report because
it had important information about new missiles. Ausable believed that
this important report may well affect the course of history.
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 and about
calling police for extra protection for the missile report. He convinced
Max about the balcony. And thus, when the waiter knocked at the door,
Max fearing it to be the police, jumped out of the window and died.
answer.
Fowler found this episode very thrilling. He was much surprised by the
tactful nature of Ausable. He made up a story about the balcony and the
police. He got the intruder, Max, killed without firing or fighting.
One evening when Fowler and Ausable entered the room, they found a
man standing in the centre of the room. He had a pistol in his hand. His
name was Max. He came there to grab the important report from
Ausable. Seeing Max, Ausable remained calm and silent. But he
expressed his anger with the
management of the hotel for not blocking the balcony below his house.
Intruders had come into the house. When there was a sudden knock on
the door, Ausable said that it might be the police. He said that he himself
had called the police. Max jumped through the window to the balcony.
But in
reality, there was no balcony. So, Max fell down to the ground from the
sixth floor and was killed.
(b) Why did Max scream shrilly when he dropped to the balcony?
(c) Presence of mind and intelligence are more powerful than a gun.
How far is it true in the case of Ausable, the secret agent?
Max lay in wait for Ausable to steal the important paper from him. As
Fowler observed, apart from the pointed gun Max didn’t look very
menacing. Even this proved useless as Ausable outwitted him with his
presence of mind and intelligence. Ausable cleverly found out how Max
had entered the room and created an extremely convincing story about
a non-existent balcony. He kept calm, and, hearing the waiter knock,
declared it to be the police. Max, in an attempt to hide, fell to his death.
Thus, Ausable got rid of Max without moving a muscle.