Based on the sources provided, here is a summary of the chapter “A Question of Trust” and the answers to the questions asked within it.
Summary of “A Question of Trust”
The story introduces Horace Danby, a man whom everyone considered a good, honest citizen. He was a fifty-year-old, unmarried maker of locks with a successful business and two helpers. However, he was not completely honest. Fifteen years prior, he had served a sentence in a prison library. His motivation for crime was his love for rare, expensive books. To fund this, he robbed a safe every year, stealing just enough to buy books through an agent.
His plan for this year involved the house at Shotover Grange. He had spent two weeks studying the house, including its rooms, wiring, paths, and garden. He knew the two servants were away. The house contained about fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of jewels in a safe, from which he expected to get at least five thousand pounds.
Horace, suffering from hay fever, entered the house using a key from a hook after putting on gloves to avoid fingerprints. He encountered a small dog named Sherry, whom he calmed. He found the safe behind a painting in the drawing room and noted the burglar alarm was poorly built, cutting its wire. The smell of flowers in the room triggered his hay fever, causing him to sneeze.
While sneezing, he heard a voice asking about his condition. It belonged to a young, pretty woman dressed in red who stood in the doorway. Sherry the dog reacted to her in a friendly way. The woman implied she was one of the family. Horace, hoping to avoid trouble, tried to negotiate. He offered not to steal from her, stating his motive was books and his dislike for prison.
The woman, seeing he was afraid of prison, agreed to let him go if he did something for her. She claimed she had forgotten the numbers to open the safe and needed the jewels inside for a party that night. She asked him to open the safe for her, even if he had to break it, saying her husband wouldn’t be back for a month. Horace, eager to please and escape, took off his gloves to light her cigarette and proceeded to open the safe.
Within an hour, Horace had opened the safe, given the jewels to the woman, and left happily. He kept his promise not to steal for two days. However, on the third day, thinking of books, he decided to look for another safe. But he never got the chance. A policeman arrested him at noon for the robbery at Shotover Grange. His fingerprints were found all over the room because he had opened the safe without gloves. His story about the owner’s wife asking him to open the safe was not believed, especially when the real wife, described as a gray-haired, sixty-year-old woman, called his story nonsense.
Horace Danby is now an assistant librarian in prison. He often thinks about the clever young lady who tricked him and dislikes talk of ‘honour among thieves’.
Questions and Answers
Here are the questions from the chapter and their answers, drawn from the provided sources:
Read and Find Out
- What does Horace Danby like to collect? Horace Danby likes to collect rare, expensive books.
- Why does he steal every year? He steals every year to get enough money to last for twelve months so he can secretly buy the books he loved through an agent.
- Who is speaking to Horace Danby? A young, quite pretty woman, dressed in red, is speaking to Horace Danby.
- Who is the real culprit in the story? The young lady who Horace encountered in the house was the real culprit, as she tricked Horace into opening the safe for her. The actual owner’s wife was an older woman.
Think About It
- Did you begin to suspect, before the end of the story, that the lady was not the person Horace Danby took her to be? If so, at what point did you realise this, and how? The sources present this as a question for the reader to consider, rather than providing a specific answer. However, clues in the text that might lead a reader to suspect the lady’s identity include her unusual calmness upon discovering a burglar, her apparent knowledge of Horace’s fear of prison, and crucially, her claim that she had forgotten the safe combination and needed him to open it for her. The fact that she asked him to break the safe might also seem unusual for an owner.
- 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? The lady deceives Horace by acting like she belongs in the house. Sherry the dog reacts positively to her presence. She walks confidently to the fireplace and adjusts ornaments. She speaks casually about coming back to the house and meeting him. She mentions her “husband”. Horace doesn’t suspect something is wrong possibly because he is distracted by his hay fever, is focused on getting the job done quickly, and is relieved that she seems willing to help him escape in exchange for opening the safe. His stated tendency to like the “wrong kind of people” might also make him less cautious of someone who seems charming but perhaps unconventional.
- “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? This description is apt because Horace maintains the appearance of a good and respectable citizen to everyone else; he has a successful business and employs people. However, he is not completely honest because he commits a serious crime – robbing a safe – every year. He cannot be categorised as a typical thief because his motive is unique; he steals solely to buy rare books, not for general wealth or possessions. He carefully plans his robberies to steal only what he needs for this specific purpose and seems genuinely afraid of prison, unlike a hardened criminal.
- Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why? Horace went wrong when he failed to verify the identity of the woman he met in the house. His key mistake was taking off his gloves to light her cigarette, which allowed his fingerprints to be left in the room. He trusted the woman’s story and her apparent authority in the house. He faltered because his desire to avoid prison made him vulnerable to her manipulation, leading him to abandon his usual caution (like wearing gloves) in the belief that she could help him escape the situation.
Talk About It
- Do you think Horace Danby was unfairly punished, or that he deserved what he got? The sources present this as a topic for discussion and do not provide an answer.
- Do intentions justify actions? Would you, like Horace Danby, do something wrong if you thought your ends justified the means? Do you think that there are situations in which it is excusable to act less than honestly? The sources present these as topics for discussion and reflection and do not provide answers.