Question 1 : Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Mabel : If you – your wife – [The Inspector raises his hand, deprecating.]
[Speaking low] Just half an hour! Couldn’t you? It’s two
lives – two whole lives! We’ve only been married four months.
Come back in half an hour. It’s such a little thing – nobody
will know. Nobody . Won’t you?
(i) Who is the Inspector here? What are they talking about?
Answer : The Inspector here is Inspector Dede. He has come to the house of Ronald Dancy to arrest him on the charge of stealing De Levis’ money. Mable is asking him not to do so. She is trying to delay things.
(ii) Which ‘two lives’ is Mabel talking about? What is going to happen to these lives?
Answer : The ‘two lives’ that Mabel talks about are the lives of her husband, Ronald Dancy and hers. If Dancy gets arrested then their lives would be totally destroyed. They had been married for only four months and all they had seen was the case against Dancy . They had enjoyed no marital bliss.
(iii) Mable requests the Inspector to be sympathetic. Why? Does the Inspector oblige?
Answer : Mable was very distraught at the thought that her husband was going to be arrested. She wanted to delay the proceeding for as long as possible. She asked Dede to be sympathetic towards them. She pleaded him to let them have some moments together. However, Dede had a loyalty towards the law. He did not oblige her.
(iv) To end to this scene is very sad and pitiful. What happens in the end?
Answer : Indeed the scene at the end was very sad and pitiful. Inspector Dede was about to arrest Dancy but he locked himself in the bedroom. Then a shot was fired. They all barged into the bedroom. Dancy had committed suicide, leaving a note saying that he had been unfair to his wife.
(v) What impression do you form about Mabel from these lines?
Answer : Mabel appears to be very loving and loyal wife. Even though she comes to know the truth that her husband was indeed the thief who had stolen De Levis’ money, she sticks by his side. She draws sympathy from the reader and one could not help but feel sorry for her.