NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Summary of English Chapter 3 The Midnight Visitor
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romantic: imaginative; having a fantastic view of reality
passably: just well enough; tolerably well
espionage: spying
sloppy: (here) carelessly dressed
prosaic: ordinary
chuckled: laughed quietly, without opening his mouth
wheezed: spoke breathing noisily and heavily
missiles: weapons directed by remote control or automatically
shrilly: piercingly; in a high pitch
Question 1:
How is Ausable different from other secret agents?
Answer
Ausable was different from other secret agents because he lived in a small room in the musty corridor of a gloomy French hotel which was on the sixth and top floor. There was nothing thrilling or adventurous about it. On top of that, he was extremely fat.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Question 2:
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. His first authentic thrill of the day came when he saw a man in Ausable’s room pointing a pistol towards Ausable and himself.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Question 3:
How has Max got in?
Answer
Max had got into the room with a passkey or a master key.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Question 4:
How does Ausable say he got in?
Answer
Ausable says that Max must have entered his room through the balcony outside the window.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Question 5:
“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.
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 s (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.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Question 6:
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 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 outside, jumped out of the window to his death.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
Question 7:
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 of 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.
NCERT Solution of Class 10 English Ch-3 The Midnight Visitor
