A Question of Trust

 

A QUESTION OF TRUST

Question 1. What does Horace Danby like to collect?

Answer: Horace Danby likes to collect rare and expensive books.

 

Question 2.Why does he steal every year?

Answer: He stole every year so that he could buy the rare and expensive books that he loved to collect. Each year he planned one robbery carefully so as to steal enough to last twelve months.

 

Question 3.Who is speaking to Horace Danby?

Answer: A lady standing in the doorway is speaking to Horace Danby. She was young and pretty and was dressed in red. She said she had come just in time, or else her family would have been robbed by Horace. Thus she pretended to be one of the members of the family living at Shotover Grange.

 

Question 4.Who is the real culprit in the story?

Answer: The real culprit in the story is the woman who pretended to be a member of the family living at Shotover Grange. She tricked Horace Danby into believing her, and cleverly took away all the jewels that were kept in the safe.

 

Question 5. What events in the story lead one to believe that the lady was not a member of the household?

Answer: The lady was not the person Horace Danby took her to be. She was unusually calm on seeing Horace. This seemed strange. When she did not call the police, and instead asked Horace to take out all the jewels from the safe, even if it meant breaking it open, it seems suspicious. Moreover, it seemed highly unlikely that she would forget the number combination to open the safe. Therefore it was evident, before the story ended, that the lady was not the person Horace had taken her to be.

 

Question 6. What are the subtle ways in which the lady manages to deceive Horace Danby into thinking she is the lady of the house? Why doesn’t Horace suspect that something is wrong?

Answer: Her confident walk, her familiarity with the dog Sherry, her act of arranging the ornaments and the ease with which she picks a cigarette from the right place are enough to deceive anybody. Horace was too frightened to think properly, so he didn’t suspect anything.

 

Question 7.“Horace Danby was good and respectable – but not completely honest”. Why do you think this description is apt for Horace? Why can’t he be categorised as a typical thief?

Answer: Horace’s habits were not typical of a thief. He was fond of books. He used to steal only once in a year so he was never stealing more than his needs. However, an act of theft is still a crime, no matter how well a thief behaves, so this description is apt for Horace. He can’t be categorised as a typical thief because he is not a regular offender like other thieves.

 

Question 8.Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?

Answer: Horace Danby failed to get enough information about the real occupants of the house. He seems to be too occupied with collecting information about the house map, wiring and location of valuable items. Although he was smart enough to know the dog’s actual name, he overlooked getting information about the occupants of the house. When he landed in trouble with the appearance of the young lady, his clever mind gave way to carelessness, leading him to open the safe without wearing gloves.

 

Question 9.Do you think Horace Danby was unfairly punished, or that he deserved what he got?

Answer: Horace Danby deserved what he got. A crime is a crime, no matter if it is committed for your own benefit or for somebody else’s benefit. Also, he had come with the intention of committing the robbery and he had been doing these crimes in the past as well. So, it was right that he was punished.

 

Question 10.Whom did Horace Danby see in the kitchen? How did they greet each other? What tact did Horace apply there? [CBSE 2013]

Answer: Horace Danby saw the family dog, Sherry, in the kitchen. The dog greeted Horace by stirring, making a noise and wagging its tail in a friendly way. Horace greeted the dog by tactfully calming it down, calling it by its name and showing love to it.

 

Question 11.How did Danby prepare for the robbery at Shotover Grange? [CBSE 2011]

Answer: Danby always planned his robberies meticulously. He prepared for the robbery at Shotover Grange by studying the house, the electric wiring, paths and garden. He knew that the family had gone to London and knew about the movement of the servants, who had gone out to watch a movie that afternoon. He had kept his tools ready, packed in a bag.

 

Question 12. Where was the safe at Shotover Grange? What was there inside it? What did Horace expect to get if he sold them one by one? [CBSE 2012]

Answer: The safe at Shotover Grange was kept in the drawing room behind a poor painting and had jewels worth about 15000 pounds kept in it. It had a poorly built burglar alarm, but could be opened only through a specific code. Horace expected to get 5000 pounds if he sold the jewels one by one.

 

Question 13.How did flowers hinder Horace in his work? [CBSE 2013]

Answer: Flowers hindered Horace in his work because he had hay fever, a disorder affecting the nose and throat, caused by allergy to pollen or dust. Due to this problem, whenever he came close to flowers, he began to sneeze’ and could be caught. He had to cover his face.

 

Question 14. Why does Horace Danby get angry when anyone talks about ‘honour among thieves’?

Answer: When anyone talks about ‘honour among thieves’, Horace Danby gets angry because the young lady who cheated him was also a thief, yet did not follow this saying. As per the saying, thieves would never double cross or betray each other. Be cause of her betrayal, Horace  was caught by the police and had to go to prison.

 

Question 15. What precautions did Danby take to avoid arrest? What blunder did he commit in his last venture?

Answer: To avoid arrest, Danby always studied all aspects of the safe he had targeted that year thoroughly, including the habits of the owners and servants, the layout of the house, any burglar alarms etc. He carried a set of select tools to break open safes and always wore gloves, so that he left behind no fingerprints.
In his last venture at Shotover Grange, he committed the blunder of not wearing gloves while cracking open the safe, probably because he was distracted by the young lady threatening to call the police, thus leading to his arrest soon afterwards.

 

Question 16. Why was Horace Danby arrested although he failed to profit from the robbery at Shotover Grange?

Answer: Horace Danby was arrested although he failed to profit from the robbery at Shotover Grange, because he broke open the safe to give the lady in red the jewels, thinking her to be the wife of the owner who had forgotten the number combination to open the safe. Actually he wanted to escape scot-free, as he had been caught red-handed by the lady and wanted to keep her happy. However, his fingerprints were all over the room, as he had forgotten to wear his gloves while opening the safe. Thus he was arrested soon afterwards.

 

Question 17.How did the lady in red manage to outsmart and outmaneuver the other thief, Horace Danby, by robbing the safe without leaving a single fingerprint?

Answer: Horace was clever, as he planned the robbery carefully, studied the target, took the proper tools and also took his gloves, to ensure leaving no fingerprints. But the young lady in red had all the necessary information, and, posing as the mistress of the house, exploited Horace’s fear on being discovered, tricked him into cracking open the safe and handing her the jewels. She even ensured that Horace left his fingerprints at the site, as she distracted him by picking up a cigarette which Horace offered to light after removing his gloves. Thus the lady outwitted him.