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Question
Ausable planned to get rid of Max the very moment he noticed him. Explain with supporting evidence from the story
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Solution
Ausable spun a story on seeing Max. Max was armed, and he was unarmed. Any wrong move would cost his life. So, he decided to be cool throughout. He feigned anger against the hotel management. His vivid word picture of a balcony extending just below his window from the next apartment makes both Fowler and Max believe that Ausable is angry and irritated. This makes Max happy for learning another possible way of escape in case any threat comes through the door. He tries to add little pieces of evidence like “the management promised to block it” to make Max believe that someone had already used the same balcony to break into
Ausable’s room earlier. Ausable knew that Henry would arrive soon with the drinks he had ordered. So, he timed his narrative in such a way that the arrival of Henry takes place soon after his vivid word portrait of the balcony to Max and Fowler. His ingenious idea of relating the knock of the waiter to a non-existent police officer is a stroke of genius. Because the fear of encountering police and a possible gunfight only goads Max to jump to his death from the 6th floor of the hotel. He thought he was jumping down onto the balcony but he was outwitted. These facts indicate that Ausable had planned to get rid of Max soon after he saw him in his room.
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