Class 10 English · Original EZT practice
The Midnight Visitor - Robert Arthur (Class 10 English, Footprints without Feet, Chapter 3)
The Midnight Visitor is Chapter 3 of Class 10 Footprints without Feet (Reprint 2026-27, pp. 14-19), a spy story by Robert Arthur with an unusual hero. Ausable is fat, speaks with an American accent, and looks nothing like the secret agents in books - yet when a rival agent named Max traps him at gunpoint demanding an important report, it is Ausable's quick thinking, not a gun, that wins. This page gives a full summary, characters, theme, word meanings and fresh practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 24 October 2026:
1. Summary - the spy who wins by talking
Fowler, a young and romantic writer, follows Ausable down the musty corridor of a gloomy French hotel and feels let down: Ausable fits no description of a secret agent he has ever read. Ausable promises drama - 'a quite important paper for which several men and women have risked their lives' is on its way to him. Switching on the light, they find Max in the room with a small automatic pistol, come to take the report about some new missiles. Ausable sits down heavily and complains bitterly about 'that nuisance of a balcony' - the second time in a month someone has got in through it. He explains it belongs to the next apartment, extends under his window, and can be reached from the empty room two doors down; Max admits he used a passkey, not the balcony. A knock comes at the door. Ausable says it will be the police, whom he asked to check on him, and warns that the unlocked door will not stop them and 'they will not hesitate to shoot'. Max backs to the window, gun still covering the room, and drops to the balcony to wait. As he drops, he screams once, shrilly. The door opens - it is only Henry the waiter with a tray, a bottle and two glasses. 'There were no police,' Ausable tells the white-faced Fowler. And of the man on the balcony: 'he won't return. You see, my young friend, there is no balcony.'
2. Characters
Ausable: a secret agent in Paris - 'fat. Very fat', American accent from Boston after twenty years, calm and quick-witted. Fowler: a young, romantic writer accompanying Ausable, disappointed by his unheroic looks. Max: a slender rival agent, 'features that suggested slightly the crafty, pointed countenance of a fox', armed with a small automatic pistol. Henry: the waiter whose knock Ausable turns into a fictional police raid.
3. Theme and word meanings
Presence of mind beats force: Ausable disarms a gunman using only a believable story and perfect timing. Appearances deceive: the least heroic-looking man in the room is the most dangerous to underestimate. The convincing lie: Ausable's balcony story works because it is detailed, irritated and spontaneous - 'the second time in a month', the management's broken promise. Word meanings from the textbook glossary: romantic - imaginative, having a fantastic view of reality; passably - just well enough, tolerably well; espionage - spying; sloppy - (here) carelessly dressed; prosaic - ordinary; chuckled - laughed quietly, without opening his mouth; wheezed - spoke breathing noisily and heavily; missiles - weapons directed by remote control or automatically; shrilly - piercingly, in a high pitch.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Read Fowler's disappointment
Choose the method: Expectation versus reality.
EZT practice question
Why is Fowler disappointed when he first meets Ausable?
Show the worked solution
- Fowler is a young, romantic writer who has read thrilling accounts of secret agents.
- What he finds: Ausable is 'fat. Very fat', speaks with an American accent brought from Boston twenty years ago, and lives in a small room on the sixth floor of a gloomy French hotel.
- So Ausable 'did not fit any description of a secret agent Fowler had ever read', and following him down the musty corridor Fowler feels let down.
Answer: Ausable is very fat, has an American accent, and fits no description of a secret agent Fowler has read - the reality kills Fowler's romantic expectations.
Check: Contrast the picture in spy books with the fat, slow-spoken man in the gloomy hotel.
Watch for this: Do not say Fowler dislikes Ausable - he is disappointed because the man fails his romantic picture of a spy.
Now try it yourself
Where did Ausable bring his American accent from?
Check your answer
From Boston - he brought it to Paris twenty years ago and never altogether lost it.
The detail fixes how unheroic he sounds, not just how he looks.
Separate the real entry from the invented one
Choose the method: Passkey versus balcony.
EZT practice question
How did Max actually enter Ausable's room, and how does Ausable claim people enter?
Show the worked solution
- Ausable complains that this is the second time in a month someone has entered through 'that nuisance of a balcony'.
- He describes it in detail: it belongs to the next apartment, extends under his window, and can be reached from the empty room two doors down.
- Max admits the truth: he used a passkey, not the balcony - and the balcony itself is Ausable's invention.
Answer: Max used a passkey; Ausable claims people enter through a balcony that belongs to the next apartment, extends under his window, and can be reached from the empty room two doors down.
Check: Two entries named: the real passkey and the invented balcony route.
Watch for this: Do not treat the balcony as real - Ausable confirms at the end that 'there is no balcony'.
Now try it yourself
What does Ausable call the balcony while inventing it?
Check your answer
'That nuisance of a balcony' - irritation makes the lie sound genuine.
Tone is part of the trick, not just the layout.
Identify the knock
Choose the method: A waiter becomes the police.
EZT practice question
What exactly does Ausable say is knocking at the door, and what is it really?
Show the worked solution
- A knock comes at the door, and Ausable tells Max it will be the police, whom he asked to check on him because of the important paper.
- He adds that the unlocked door will not stop them and that 'they will not hesitate to shoot'.
- The door opens to reveal Henry, the waiter, carrying a tray, a bottle and two glasses - the drink Ausable had ordered.
Answer: Ausable says it is the police checking on him; it is really Henry the waiter bringing the ordered drink on a tray with a bottle and two glasses.
Check: Name both versions: the feared police and the actual waiter with the tray.
Watch for this: Do not call the police arrival bad luck for Ausable - he staged the expectation on purpose.
Now try it yourself
What does Henry say as he enters?
Check your answer
'Here is the drink you ordered for when you returned.'
The casual line shows the whole visit was arranged, not an emergency.
Explain Max's exit
Choose the method: Fear pushes him out.
EZT practice question
Why does Max climb out of the window?
Show the worked solution
- Max believes armed police are about to enter and shoot.
- He decides to wait on the 'balcony' until they leave, backing to the window with his gun still covering the room.
- He swings himself from the sill and drops - and screams once, shrilly, because there is no balcony to land on.
Answer: He believes armed police are about to enter, so he plans to wait on the 'balcony' until they leave - but there is no balcony, and he drops into empty air.
Check: The plan and the outcome together: intended hiding place, actual empty space.
Watch for this: Do not say Ausable pushes or overpowers Max - the story does all the work.
Now try it yourself
What happens as Max drops?
Check your answer
He screams once, shrilly - the sound of a man who has found no balcony beneath him.
One sound carries the whole outcome.
List the lie's supports
Choose the method: Detail, irritation, timing.
EZT practice question
Which details make the balcony story convincing to Max?
Show the worked solution
- Ausable complains bitterly and spontaneously - irritation, not rehearsal.
- He says it is 'the second time in a month' someone has got in that way, so the route sounds established.
- He gives a precise layout - the balcony belongs to the next apartment, extends under his window, is reachable from the empty room two doors down - and blames the management's unfulfilled promise to block it off.
Answer: Ausable's irritation, 'the second time in a month', the balcony belonging to the next apartment and extending under his window, and the management's unfulfilled promise to block it off.
Check: One emotional detail plus three physical or circumstantial details.
Watch for this: Do not say Max is simply foolish - the lie works because it is detailed, irritated and spontaneous.
Now try it yourself
How does Max's own admission support Ausable's complaint?
Check your answer
Max admits he used a passkey - which confirms the room's security really is poor.
A true flaw makes the invented flaw believable.
Name Fowler's first authentic thrill
Choose the method: The light goes on.
EZT practice question
What is Fowler's 'first authentic thrill of the day'?
Show the worked solution
- Ausable switches on the light in his room.
- Fowler sees Max standing halfway across the room with a small automatic pistol.
- For a writer of romantic adventures who has had a dull evening, this sudden armed stranger is the first genuine spy moment - his 'first authentic thrill of the day'.
Answer: Seeing Max standing halfway across the room with a small automatic pistol when the light comes on - the first real spy moment of Fowler's day.
Check: It is a sight, not an action: the pistol-bearing stranger revealed by the light.
Watch for this: Do not place the thrill at the balcony scene - the textbook fixes it at the light going on.
Now try it yourself
What report is everyone after?
Check your answer
A quite important paper concerning some new missiles, for which several men and women have risked their lives.
The stakes explain the armed visitor.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Ausable's real weapon?
Show answer and reason
Presence of mind and a believable invented story.
He never fires or even holds a gun.
2. How did Max really enter?
Show answer and reason
With a passkey, not through any balcony.
The balcony is Ausable's invention.
3. Who knocks at the door?
Show answer and reason
Henry the waiter, with the ordered drink.
Ausable turns a waiter into 'police'.
4. The closing truth?
Show answer and reason
'There is no balcony.'
Max has dropped into empty air.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Explain in two sentences how Ausable defeats an armed man without a weapon.
- List three details Ausable invents about the balcony and say why each helps the lie.
- Contrast Fowler's expectation of a secret agent with what he actually finds at the French hotel.
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Questions about this practice page
- In The Midnight Visitor, does Max really use the balcony to escape?
- No. There is no balcony - Ausable invents it, and Max drops from the window believing it exists.
- Who is the hero of The Midnight Visitor and what is his real weapon?
- Ausable, a fat, slow-spoken secret agent; his weapon is presence of mind, not a gun.
- What is the central idea of The Midnight Visitor?
- Quick, calm thinking defeats brute force - Ausable talks an armed rival into stepping off a windowsill to his doom.
- Where is The Midnight Visitor in the Class 10 book?
- Chapter 3 of the supplementary reader Footprints without Feet (Reprint 2026-27, pp. 14-19), by Robert Arthur.
- Who wrote The Midnight Visitor?
- Robert Arthur. The textbook names him as the author and carries no author note, so this page makes no further biographical claims.