📘 The Midnight Visitor – Important Q&A
★ Q1. Who was Ausable? How was he different from other secret agents?
Ans: Ausable was a secret agent, but he was very different from the typical image of one. He was extremely fat, lived in a small, dark room on the sixth floor of a French hotel, and spoke with an American accent he had brought from Boston. He dealt with no mysterious figures, no pistols cracking in the night, and no dark-eyed beauties slipping messages into his hand — only a prosaic telephone call. For all these reasons, Ausable did not fit any description of a secret agent that Fowler had ever read.
★ Q2. Who was Fowler? What was his first authentic thrill of the day?
Ans: Fowler was a young, romantic writer who had come to meet Ausable to collect material for a book on detectives. He was hoping to witness mysterious and thrilling events of a secret agent's life.
His first authentic thrill came when he and Ausable entered the room and found Max — a man standing mid-room with a small automatic pistol pointed directly at them.
★ Q3. Who was Max? How did he get into the room? What did Ausable say about it?
Ans: Max was a rival secret agent — thin, slightly tall, with a fox-like face. He had come to steal a highly important report concerning new missiles, for which several men and women had risked their lives.
- How he actually got in: Max unlocked the room using a passkey.
- What Ausable claimed: Ausable cleverly said Max had entered through the balcony — which was connected to his apartment from the next room — in order to trick Max into believing the balcony existed.
★ Q4(a). How did Ausable convince Max about the balcony?
Ans: Ausable gave a very detailed and convincing description of the balcony:
- He said it was the second time that month someone had entered through the balcony.
- He explained that the balcony belonged to the next apartment.
- He said the room was once part of a larger unit, and the next room used to be the living room.
- The balcony extended under his window, making it easy to climb in.
This detailed, matter-of-fact description made Max fully believe in the balcony's existence.
★ Q4(b). What makes "The Midnight Visitor" a convincing story?
Ans: The story is convincing because Ausable's description of the non-existent balcony is so detailed and natural that even the reader is almost fooled. The use of two false pieces of information — the balcony and the police — is cleverly woven into real events (someone knocking at the door). Ausable's calm, intelligent thinking under pressure makes the story feel completely believable.
★ Q5(a). When did Ausable think up his plan to get rid of Max?
Ans: Ausable had not planned anything in advance. The moment he and Fowler entered the room and saw Max with a pistol, Ausable instantly began forming his plan — taking advantage of the situation as it developed.
★ Q5(b). How did Ausable get rid of Max?
Ans: Ausable used two false pieces of information:
1. The Balcony — He told Max that someone had already entered his room through the balcony that month, making Max believe there was a real balcony outside the window.
2. The Police — When Henry (a waiter) knocked at the door, Ausable told Max it was the police, whom he had requested for extra protection of the report. This panicked Max.
As the knocking grew louder and the doorknob turned, Max — believing there was a balcony below the window — jumped out of the window to escape. But there was no balcony. Max fell to his death, and Ausable saved both himself, Fowler, and the important report.
★ Q6. Did Ausable work out his plan from the beginning?
Ans: No. Ausable had not planned anything beforehand. He made up his plan on the spot, taking advantage of events as they happened:
- The balcony idea came from a common burglary method.
- The police idea came when Henry knocked at the door unexpectedly.
This shows Ausable's quick wit and presence of mind — his greatest strength as a secret agent.
★ Q7(a). Who was the Midnight Visitor?
Ans: The midnight visitor was Max — a rival secret agent who had an appointment at 12:30. He secretly entered Ausable's room with a passkey to steal the important report about new missiles.
★ Q7(b). What happened at the end? How did Ausable defeat Max?
Ans: Ausable tricked Max with the story of the balcony and the police. When Henry knocked at the door and the doorknob turned, Max panicked and jumped out of the window — believing the balcony would catch him. But there was no balcony, and Max fell to his death.
Thus, Ausable — using only his sharp mind and clever words — defeated Max's scheme without any weapon, saved the important report, and protected both himself and Fowler.
💡 Exam Tip: The most important theme of this story is "intelligence over weapons" — Ausable defeats Max not with a gun, but with his presence of mind and clever use of words.
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