by Victor Canning
NCERT Questions & Answers + Important Extra Questions
NCERT Textbook Questions
What does Horace Danby like to collect?
Answer
Horace Danby likes to collect rare, expensive books. He is passionate about books and spends a lot of money buying them through a secret agent. He is a respectable, fifty-year-old man who runs a successful lock-making business with two helpers. On the surface, he is a model citizen — good, respectable, and well-liked. However, he finances his book collection by robbing one safe every year. Each robbery gives him enough money to buy books through the year. He has been doing this for fifteen years and has never been caught — until the events of this story.
Why did he rob safes?
Answer
Horace robbed safes because: (i) His passion for rare books was expensive — he couldn't afford them from his legitimate locksmith's income alone. (ii) He robbed only one safe per year — just enough to fund his book purchases for the year. (iii) He was a locksmith by profession, so he had the skills to crack safes. (iv) He planned each robbery meticulously — studying the house for weeks, learning the owners' schedules, memorising the layout. (v) He considered himself a gentleman thief, not a common criminal — he only stole what he needed for books. His fifteen-year streak without being caught gave him confidence, but it also made him careless enough to be tricked.
Who was the young lady?
Answer
The young lady who appeared at Shotover Grange while Horace was robbing the safe was not the owner of the house. She was actually another thief — a clever con woman who: (i) Pretended to be the lady of the house (the real owners were away in London). (ii) Caught Horace in the act and threatened to call the police. (iii) Then "forgave" him and asked him to open the safe for her, claiming she'd forgotten the combination and needed her jewels for a party. (iv) Horace, relieved and grateful, opened the safe without wearing gloves, leaving his fingerprints everywhere. (v) She took the jewels and disappeared. When Horace was arrested (his fingerprints were found), he told the police about the young lady — but nobody believed him. The real owner was a grey-haired woman of sixty, not a young, pretty woman.
What does the__( title "A Question of Trust" mean?
Answer
The title has multiple layers of meaning: (i) Horace trusted the wrong person: He trusted the young woman to be who she said she was — the lady of the house. This misplaced trust led to his arrest. (ii) Can a thief be trusted? Horace was trusted by society as a respectable locksmith, but he was secretly a thief — so trust in him was also misplaced. (iii) Trust between criminals: Horace assumed the young woman was honest (ironic, since he himself was dishonest). He forgot that if he could be dishonest, so could others. (iv) The question is: Who can you really trust? The answer the story gives is — no one entirely, because people are not always what they appear to be. It's a story about deception on multiple levels.
Important Extra Questions
What is the irony in the story?
Answer
The story is rich with irony: (i) A thief is robbed by another thief — Horace, who has successfully robbed safes for 15 years, is outsmarted by a cleverer criminal. (ii) His own skills betray him: Horace's expertise in opening locks — his livelihood and his crime tool — becomes the evidence against him (his fingerprints on the safe). (iii) His honesty condemns him: When Horace tells the truth about the young lady, nobody believes him — because who would believe a thief? (iv) The "respectable" person is a criminal: Horace is liked by everyone in society, yet he's a serial burglar. (v) He was caught not by the police, who failed for 15 years, but by a random fellow criminal who was smarter than him.
What lesson does the story teach?
Answer
(i) Crime doesn't pay: Despite 15 years of successful robbery, Horace is eventually caught — and for a crime he didn't commit (the jewel theft). (ii) Don't trust appearances: The pretty young woman seemed trustworthy but was a con artist. Horace seemed respectable but was a thief. (iii) Overconfidence leads to downfall: Horace's 15-year success made him careless — he didn't question the woman's identity. (iv) A thief has no moral authority: Horace couldn't report the real thief because admitting he was there meant admitting he was also a thief. (v) Poetic justice: Horace, who exploited others' trust for 15 years, is destroyed when he trusts the wrong person.