Ch 22The Midnight Visitor

The Midnight Visitor

Author: Robert Arthur, American writer of mystery and suspense stories

Introduction

"The Midnight Visitor" is a gripping spy story with a difference. Its hero, Ausable, is nothing like the glamorous secret agents of films and novels — he is fat, sloppy and very ordinary-looking. Yet, with sheer presence of mind and a cleverly invented story, he gets rid of an armed enemy agent without lifting a finger. The story proves that intelligence is a sharper weapon than a pistol, and that appearances can be deceptive.

Detailed Summary

Ausable is a secret agent living in a small, gloomy room on the sixth and top floor of a French hotel — a musty corridor, a dim atmosphere, nothing romantic about it. A young writer named Fowler has been introduced to him, hoping to spend a thrilling evening with a real secret agent. But Fowler is deeply disappointed: Ausable is very fat, speaks French and German only passably with an American accent, and instead of mysterious messages and dark-eyed beauties, his evening has consisted of an ordinary telephone call at a hotel lobby. Ausable, sensing his disappointment, tells him he is about to receive an important paper — a report concerning some new missiles — for which several men and women have risked their lives, and jokes that it may yet make Fowler's evening interesting.

When Ausable switches on the light in his room, they get a nasty shock. A man named Max — slender, of medium height, with features that suggest a fox — is standing halfway across the room, a small automatic pistol in his hand. Max, an enemy agent, has come to take the missile report from Ausable. He says he used a passkey to enter the room.

Here Ausable's brilliant mind goes to work. Sitting down heavily in an armchair, he angrily complains that this is the second time in a month that somebody has got into his room through "that nuisance of a balcony" below the window, which, he says, extends under his window from the empty apartment next door. In reality, there is no balcony at all — Ausable invents it on the spot, and Max, who entered with a passkey, quietly accepts the explanation. Ausable adds that he had asked the management to block it off.

Ausable then tells Max, with a calm face, that the report is not in the room but will be brought to him shortly, and that he has also arranged for the police to check on him to make sure the report is safe. Just then there is a knock on the door. Ausable smiles and says, "That will be the police. I asked them to check on me, to be sure the report was safe." Max is trapped: if the police find him there with a gun, he is finished.

Nervously, Max decides to wait out on the "balcony" until the police leave, warning Ausable to send them away quickly or he will shoot. As the knocking continues and the doorknob turns, Max swings a leg over the window sill and, dropping to the balcony that does not exist, pushes himself off with his other hand. With a terrible, shrill scream he falls six floors to his death — the "balcony" was pure invention.

The door opens and in walks — not the police, but Henry, the hotel waiter, carrying the bottle of wine and two glasses that Ausable had ordered when the two men came up. Ausable calmly tells him to put it on the table. When the puzzled Fowler asks about the police and whether Max will simply return through the window, Ausable, filling his glass, delivers the story's famous last line: no one will come in through the window — Max will never return.

Themes

• Intelligence and presence of mind are mightier than physical strength or weapons.
• Appearances are deceptive — heroes need not look heroic.
• Quick thinking under pressure can turn certain defeat into victory.
• Fear and panic make even armed men act foolishly.
• A contrast between fictional glamour and real-life espionage.

Character Sketches

Ausable

Ausable is a secret agent who defies every popular image of a spy. He is very fat, sloppy in habits, lives in a dull little hotel room and speaks French and German with a heavy American accent. But behind the unimpressive exterior lies a razor-sharp brain. Confronted by an armed enemy, he shows no fear or panic. Within moments he invents a non-existent balcony, weaves the waiter's expected knock into a story about the police, and calmly leads Max to his own destruction — all without moving from his chair. Cool, confident, imaginative and quick-witted, Ausable proves that true heroism lies in the mind.

Max

Max is the enemy secret agent who breaks into Ausable's room to seize the missile report. He is slender, slightly taller than average, with a face that suggests the crafty look of a fox, and he carries a small automatic pistol. Though armed and menacing, he is gullible and nervous. He swallows Ausable's invented story about the balcony without checking it, panics at the mention of police, and leaps out of the window to his death. Max shows that a weapon without a cool head is useless.

Fowler

Fowler is a romantic young writer who expects espionage to be full of danger, mystery and glamour. His first meeting with the fat, ordinary Ausable disappoints him thoroughly. But the events in the hotel room — the armed intruder, the invented balcony and Max's fatal leap — give him a truly thrilling experience and teach him that real adventure does not always look dramatic. He serves as the reader's eyes in the story.

Important Word Meanings