Question

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

Mabel: Oh! Why didn’t I face it? But I couldn’t—I had to believe.
Dancy: And now you can’t. It’s the end, Mabel.
Mabel: [Looking up at him] No.
[Dancy goes suddenly on his knees and seizes her hand.]
Dancy: Forgive me!
Mabel: [Putting her hand on his head] Yes; oh, yes! I think I’ve known for a long time, really. Only — why? What made you?

(i) How does Dancy respond to Mabel’s question? 

(ii) What makes Dancy say ‘that’s not in human nature’ a little later? 

(iii) Why does Inspector Dede arrive at Dancy’s house? How does Mabel try to stall him? 

(iv) To whom was Dancy’s suicide note addressed? What had he written in it? 

(v) What does Margaret mean when she says that keeping faith is ‘not enough’ and ‘we’ve all done that’?
What, in your opinion, should his friends have done? 

Answer 1

(i) Dancy’s responded by saying that he only looted a looter. He felt that the money was as much his as much it was of De Levis. He expected to be offered half the amount, The looks of De Levis at dinner table seemed to call Dancy a blasted fool. This made Dancy go mad and steal the money of De Levis. He said that he enjoyed that evening.

(ii) When Mabel comes to know that Dancy stole the money for a woman she overcame her grief and told him to go to Morocco. Dancy asked her if it was a “Good Bye”, Mabel refused and said she’d follow him. She then said that she never cared about his past and would go on loving him and she would be just the same when he came back to her. Dancy who had never known a woman’s acceptance tried to deny her by saying, “That’s not in human nature”.

(iii) A warrant had been issued against Dancy and Inspector Dede had come to arrest him. First Mabel lied by saying that Dancy must have left. But when Dede saw the bedroom door and moved towards it, Mabel tried to persuade him by saying that if he and his wife were in a similar situation, what would he do. Then she requests on behalf of two whole lives, to come back in half a horn, to which the Inspector denies.

(iv) The suicide note of Dancy was addressed to Colford. It read that, that was the only decent thing left for Dancy to do. He accepted that by killing himself he was being unfair to Mabel, but it was just another reckless jump made by him. He wrote that a pistol kept the faith. He instructed Colford to look after Mabel and conveyed his love to both of them.

(v) She means that Dancy took refuge in a pistol which he thought “keeps faith”, but his friends including Margaret, also could keep faith i.e., prove loyal to him. But their loyalties were not enough for Dancy.
Considering the reckless nature of Dancy, it can be concluded that his Mends could have done nothing to save his life. They all tried their best to save him but he had more faith in a pistol than in his friends.