TEACHGYAN • CLASS 10 ENGLISH • FOOTPRINTS WITHOUT FEET

Chapter 4 – A Question of Trust

Complete NCERT guide • Victor Canning • Horace Danby • deception • trust • competency and board practice

📖 Chapter Overview

“A Question of Trust” by Victor Canning is a crime story about Horace Danby, a respectable-looking man who secretly commits one robbery each year to finance his collection of rare books. During a burglary, another thief deceives Horace by pretending to be the owner of the house. The story explores deception, appearances and the irony of a thief being tricked by another criminal.

📚 Horace Danby

Horace is a successful locksmith who appears respectable and ordinary. He loves rare and expensive books, but his income cannot support the collection. Once a year he commits a carefully planned robbery and uses the money to buy books.

🏠 The Robbery at Shotover Grange

Horace breaks into Shotover Grange and reaches the safe. He knows that the house is protected by an alarm system and takes precautions. He discovers that the safe requires knowledge of the combination and prepares to open it.

👩 The Woman in Red

A young woman appears and claims to be the lady of the house. She tells Horace that she has forgotten the safe combination and asks him to open the safe for her. She promises that she will not call the police. Horace believes her story.

💎 The Deception

Horace opens the safe for the woman and gives her the jewels. He leaves fingerprints behind and later discovers that the woman was not the owner. She was another thief who used him to obtain the jewellery.

👤 Character Study: Horace Danby

• Intelligent: he plans his robberies carefully.
• Knowledgeable: his profession as a locksmith helps him handle locks.
• Book-loving: his criminal motive is connected to collecting rare books.
• Overconfident: he assumes he can judge the woman correctly.
• Deceived: his own trust in appearances causes his downfall.

👩 Character Study: The Young Woman

The woman is confident, quick-thinking and persuasive. She understands Horace’s situation and creates a convincing story that makes him do the difficult part of the robbery for her. Her identity remains deliberately mysterious in the narrative.

🎯 Major Themes

Appearance Versus Reality

The woman appears to be the owner of the house but is actually another thief.

Deception

The story shows how easily assumptions can be exploited.

Irony

Horace, a thief who carefully plans crimes, is himself tricked by another criminal.

Trust and Suspicion

The title draws attention to the consequences of trusting appearances without verification.

📚 Important Vocabulary

Word	Meaning
Motive	A reason for doing something
Rare	Uncommon or difficult to find
Burglary	Illegal entry into a building to commit theft
Deceive	To deliberately mislead someone
Grange	A country house or farm estate

✍️ Literary Features

• Irony: the thief is tricked by another thief.
• Suspense: the reader follows Horace’s attempt to open the safe.
• Twist ending: the woman is revealed to be an impostor.
• Character contrast: Horace’s careful planning contrasts with his careless trust.

🧠 Competency-Based Questions

1. Why is Horace’s profession important to the plot?
2. How does the woman exploit Horace’s assumptions?
3. Why is the title “A Question of Trust” appropriate?
4. How does the story show that intelligence without caution can still lead to failure?

📊 Case-Based Question

🔥 HOTS

1. Why does Horace, despite being an experienced thief, fail to suspect the woman?
2. How does the story use Horace’s own profession against him?
3. What does the story suggest about judging people by appearance?

✍️ Board-Style Questions

Short Answer

1. Why did Horace Danby commit robberies?
2. Why was Horace confident about opening the safe?
3. How did the woman convince Horace that she was the owner?
4. Why was Horace arrested?

Long Answer

1. Describe Horace Danby as an intelligent but overconfident thief.
2. How did the woman deceive Horace?
3. Explain the irony in “A Question of Trust”.

📝 Practice Worksheet

1. Create a plot timeline.
2. Make a comparison between Horace and the woman.
3. Write meanings for five vocabulary words.
4. Write a 60-word explanation of the title.
5. Write 100 words on appearance versus reality.
6. Write a 150-word analytical response on trust and deception.

🎯 One-Minute Revision

Horace loves rare books → commits annual robbery → enters Shotover Grange → woman pretends to be owner → Horace opens safe → woman takes jewels → Horace is later caught.

🏆 Mastery Checklist

• ☐ I can explain Horace’s motive.
• ☐ I can narrate the burglary.
• ☐ I can explain the woman’s deception.
• ☐ I can identify irony and suspense.
• ☐ I can answer competency and HOTS questions.

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