Class 10 English - Footprints Without Feet - Chapter The Midnight Visitor NCERT Solutions | How has Max got in?

“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?)

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?

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?

How does Ausable say he got in?

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

How is Ausable different from other secret agents?

Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki?

What does Horace Danby like to collect?

How did the invisible man first become visible?

How did a book become a turning point in Richard Ebright’s life?

What kind of a person is Mme Loisel — why is she always unhappy?

Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?

Why is Bholi’s father worried about her?

Why was the twentieth century called the ‘Era of the Book’?

Who does ‘I’ refer to in this story?

What does she do to help him? Is she wise in this?

For what unusual reasons is Bholi sent to school?

Why was the twentieth century called the ‘Era of the Book’?

What are Hari Singh’s reactions to the prospect of receiving an education? Do they change over time? (Hint: Compare, for example, the thought: “I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve” with these later thoughts: “Whole sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a simple matter to steal — and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else.”) What makes him return to Anil?

Why was he wandering the streets?

How did Bholi’s teacher play an important role in changing the course of her life?

Do you think this is a real-life episode, or mere fiction? Or is it a mixture of both?

Do you think books are being replaced by the electronic media? Can we do away with books altogether?

How do they replace the necklace?

What do M. and Mme Loisel do next?

How would you assess Griffin as a scientist?