Lutkins openly takes the lawyer all over the village. How is it that no one lets out the secret? (Hint: Notice that the hack driver asks the lawyer to keep out of sight behind him when they go into Fritz’s.) Can you find other such subtle ways in which Lutkins manipulates the tour?
Wherever place Lutkin took the lawyer he never allowed him go the inside to interrogate about him. It is possible that everywhere they went, he went inside that place and told people how he was making a fool of the lawyer. The way he invent stories about Luktin must have scared the lawyer.
What does he say about Lutkins?
When the lawyer reached New Mullion, did ‘Bill’ know that he was looking for Lutkins? When do you think Bill came up with his plan for fooling the lawyer?
Why do you think Lutkins’ neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?
Who is Lutkins?
Does the narrator serve the summons that day?
Who befriends him? Where does he take him?
What more does Bill say about Lutkins and his family?
Why is the lawyer sent to New Mullion? What does he first think about the place?
After his first day’s experience with the hack driver the lawyer thinks of returning to New Mullion to practise law. Do you think he would have reconsidered this idea after his second visit?
Do you think the lawyer was gullible? How could he have avoided being taken for a ride?
Why is Mrs Pumphrey worried about Tricki?
How is Ausable different from other secret agents?
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 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?
What kind of a person do you think the narrator, a veterinary surgeon, is? Would you say he is tactful as well as full of commonsense?
“Horace Danby was good and respectable — but not completely honest”. Why do you think this description is apt for Horace? Why can’t he be categorised as a typical thief?
“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?)
Why are books referred to as a man’s best companion? Which is your favourite book and why? Write a paragraph about that book.
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?
Bholi’s real name is Sulekha. We are told this right at the beginning. But only in the last but one paragraph of the story is Bholi called Sulekha again. Why do you think she is called Sulekha at that point in the story?
Why does he steal every year?
Bholi’s story must have moved you. Do you think girl children are not treated at par with boys? You are aware that the government has introduced a scheme to save the girl child as the sex ratio is declining. The scheme is called Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Save the Girl Child. Read about the scheme and design a poster in groups of four and display on the school notice board.
What does she do to help him? Is she wise in this?
How is the problem solved?