Class 10 English - Footprints Without Feet - Chapter The Midnight Visitor NCERT Solutions | Who is Fowler and what is his first auth

“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?

How is Ausable different from other secret agents?

How has Max got in?

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?

What experiments and projects does he then undertake?

Do you think the lawyer was gullible? How could he have avoided being taken for a ride?

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?

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 do you think Lutkins’ neighbours were anxious to meet the lawyer?

Why did Bholi at first agree to an unequal match? Why did she later reject the marriage? What does this tell us about her?

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

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?

If you were caught in a situation like this, how would you have dealt with it?

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?