Footprints Ch 3: The Midnight Visitor (Robert Arthur)

English (Footprints Without Feet) · CBSE Class 10 · Supplementary Reader · Robert Arthur · 25 Quiz

The Midnight Visitor — Summary, Author, Theme & Glossary

About the Author

Robert Arthur (1909–1969) was an American writer famous for his mystery and detective fiction and for radio dramas.

Theme

The story celebrates presence of mind, intelligence and calm thinking over brute force. It overturns the romantic image of a spy — showing that a sharp, quick-witted brain is far more powerful than guns and glamour.

Summary

Fowler, a young, romantic writer, is disappointed on meeting Ausable, a secret agent. Instead of a glamorous spy, Ausable is fat, sloppy and ordinary, with an American accent, living in a small top-floor room of a gloomy French hotel, and receiving only a dull telephone call for an appointment. Ausable tells Fowler that an important report about new missiles is to be delivered to him that night.

When Ausable switches on the light, Fowler gets his ‘first authentic thrill’ — a rival agent, Max, is standing in the room with a pistol, demanding the report. Ausable, remaining calm, pretends to be angrily complaining that this is the second time someone has got in through the ‘balcony’ outside his window. He gives a detailed, convincing story about a balcony that belongs to the next apartment and extends under his window. Max, who had actually got in with a passkey, believes him.

Then comes a knock at the door. Ausable cleverly says it must be the police, whom he had asked to check on him for extra protection, and that they would enter and shoot. Frightened, Max climbs out of the window onto the ‘balcony’ to hide — but with a shrill scream, he falls to his death, because there was no balcony at all. The knock was only Henry, the waiter, bringing the drinks Ausable had ordered. Through sheer presence of mind, Ausable outwits and gets rid of the armed intruder.

Glossary

romantic = imaginative, with a fanciful view of reality; passably = tolerably well; espionage = spying; sloppy = carelessly dressed; prosaic = ordinary, dull; chuckled = laughed quietly; wheezed = spoke with noisy breathing; missiles = guided weapons; shrilly = in a high, piercing tone; inflection = a change in the pitch of the voice; passkey = a master key.

NCERT Textbook Solutions (The Midnight Visitor)

RF1-1Read and Find Out: How is Ausable different from other secret agents?

Ausable is quite unlike the glamorous spies of fiction. He is very fat, sloppily dressed, speaks with an American (Boston) accent, and lives in a small room on the top floor of a gloomy French hotel. Instead of mysterious messages from ‘dark-eyed beauties’, he receives only a dull, prosaic telephone call. He is ordinary in appearance but extraordinary in intelligence.

RF1-2Who is Fowler and what is his first authentic thrill of the day?

Fowler is a young, romantic writer who wished to meet a real secret agent and had imagined a life of danger and adventure. His ‘first authentic thrill of the day’ comes when Ausable switches on the light and they find Max standing in the room with an automatic pistol in his hand.

RF2-1Read and Find Out: How has Max got in?

Max got into the room using a passkey (a master key), as he himself reveals.

RF2-2How does Ausable say he got in?

Ausable pretends that Max got in through the balcony outside his window. He invents a detailed story that the balcony belongs to the next apartment and extends under his window, and that someone had got in that way the previous month — though in reality there is no balcony at all.

TI-1Think about it: What do secret agents in books and films look like, compared with Ausable?

(Sample) In books and films, secret agents are usually shown as handsome, smart, fit and fearless — glamorous figures like James Bond, or brilliant, sharp detectives like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, moving through danger with style. Ausable is their complete opposite — fat, sloppy and ordinary-looking — which makes the story’s twist all the more surprising and shows that brains matter more than appearance.

TI-2How does Ausable make Max believe there is a balcony? What makes it a convincing story?

Ausable makes it convincing through calm, detailed and matter-of-fact explanation. He complains with genuine-sounding irritation that this is the ‘second time’ someone has entered through the balcony, and explains precisely that the room was once part of a larger unit, that the next room had a balcony extending under his window, that someone had got in that way last month, and that the management promised but failed to block it. These specific, believable details and his natural annoyance leave Max in no doubt that the balcony is real.

TI-3When did Ausable think up his plan? Had he planned it from the beginning, or did he make it up as events happened?

Ausable clearly made up his plan on the spot, cleverly taking advantage of events as they occurred. He had not worked it out in advance. He invented the balcony story first, and then, when Henry the waiter knocked at the door, he quick-wittedly passed it off as the ‘police’. This frightened Max into climbing out of the window to the non-existent ‘balcony’ — proving Ausable improvised brilliantly using his presence of mind.

TA-1Talk about it: Give an example showing someone’s presence of mind.

(Sample) Presence of mind means thinking quickly and acting calmly in a crisis. For example, once when a small fire started on a gas stove at home, instead of panicking I quickly turned off the gas and smothered the flames with a thick wet cloth, preventing a bigger accident. Like Ausable, staying calm and thinking fast turned a dangerous situation into a safe one.

TA-2What would you do in sudden dangerous situations (e.g. a kitchen fire, a child choking)?

(Sample) Kitchen fire: switch off the gas/power and cover the flames with a wet cloth or fire extinguisher — never water on an oil/electrical fire. Child choking: bend the child forward and give firm back-blows between the shoulder blades (the Heimlich manoeuvre for older children). Sparking appliance: switch off the mains at once and unplug it. In every case, the key is to stay calm, think clearly and act quickly — presence of mind comes from being mentally prepared.

Extra Practice — Difficult / HOTS & Value-Based Questions

Long-answer, analytical and value-based questions in CBSE exam style.

1How does Ausable outwit Max? What quality does he display? (HOTS)

Ausable outwits the armed Max purely through his presence of mind and quick thinking. First he invents a convincing story of a ‘balcony’ outside his window. Then, when the waiter Henry knocks, he instantly passes it off as the police coming to protect the important report. Terrified of being caught and shot, Max climbs out of the window to hide on the ‘balcony’ — and falls to his death, because there was no balcony. Ausable thus defeats a gun with nothing but his sharp, calm intelligence.

2‘Brains are mightier than a gun.’ How does the story prove this? (HOTS)

Max has the gun and all the power of force, yet it is the unarmed, fat, ordinary-looking Ausable who wins — simply by using his brain. His calmness, clever lies and quick exploitation of the waiter’s knock lead Max to destroy himself. The story clearly shows that intelligence, courage and presence of mind are far more effective than weapons or brute force.

3Why is the story titled ‘The Midnight Visitor’? (appreciation)

The title refers to Max, the uninvited intruder who secretly enters Ausable’s room near midnight (the appointment was for 12:30) to steal the report. He is the mysterious, dangerous ‘midnight visitor’. The title creates an air of suspense and intrigue suited to a spy thriller, and keeps the reader guessing about the night’s events.

4How does the author build and then break the romantic image of a spy? (analysis)

The author first sets up Fowler’s (and the reader’s) romantic expectations — a spy’s life of pistols, danger and dark-eyed beauties — and then deflates them by presenting Ausable as fat, sloppy and ordinary, receiving only a dull phone call. But the clever twist with Max restores the thrill, showing that real heroism lies not in glamour but in intelligence and nerve. This contrast gives the story both humour and surprise.

5What values does the story teach us? (value-based)

The story teaches that calmness, quick thinking and presence of mind can overcome even armed danger, and that one should never panic in a crisis. It shows the value of intelligence over force and of being mentally prepared for emergencies. It also reminds us not to judge people by appearances — the unimpressive-looking Ausable proves the cleverest of all.