A Question of Trust”

1. 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?

Answer: It is difficult to guess before the story ends. The incidence of the lady calming the dog gives some hint but it is not strong enough. Her statement of getting the safe repaired can make some reader to think but this can be also be a case of fear of a strict husband.

2. 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 act of touching up her make-up and the ease with which she picks cigarette from the right place are enough to deceive anybody. Horace was too frightened to think properly so he didn’t suspect anything.

3. “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: Danby’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. Act of theft is still a crime not matter how good a thief behaves, so Danby can’t be termed as completely honest. He is not a regular offender like other thieves so he can’t be categorized as a typical thief.

4. 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 real occupants of the house. He seems to be too occupied with collecting information about house map, wiring and location of valuable things. Although he was smart enough to know the dog’s actual name but overlooked getting identity of each and every occupants of the house. Once he was in problem then probably his clever mind gave way to carelessness leading him to open the safe without wearing gloves.

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

Answer: He deserved what he got. A crime is a crime no matter if it is committed a hundred times or just once.

6. 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?

Answer: “Ends do not justify means”, this is a very old and time tested saying. For own benefit nobody should harm others. But this world doesn’t function on idealism. There are many examples of people duping people for quick gains. These acts should be deplored and dealt with severely.

1)      Give a character-sketch of Horace Danby.

Ans: Horace Danby was an uncommon kind of thief. Everyone thought him to be a good and honest citizen. He was respectable. But he was not completely honest. He loved rare and expensive books. He robbed a safe every year. He planned everything before robbery. But Danby was tricked in by a young and pretty lady. She was a thief like him. She posed to be the wife of the owner. He asked her to let her go. But she made out a story. She asked Horace Danby to take out the jewels from the safe. Horace did so. But the police arrested him for the robbery.

2.      Who was Horace Danby? How did the lady dressed in red play the trick upon him?

Or, Describe how the young and pretty lady tricked Horace Danby.

Or, Describe how Horace Danby was arrested by the police.

Or, Describe how  Horace Danby robbed a safe.

Ans: Horace Danby was a good, honest man of about fifty years. He was good and respectable but not completely honest. He loved rare and expensive books. For this he robbed every year.

          Horace unlocked and entered the house of Shot over Grange to rob the safe containing fifteen thousand pound worth of jewels. Meanwhile a woman young, pretty and dressed in red stood at the doorway. Horace tried to run away. The lady threatened him of calling police. But she took a soft turn of mind. She told that before leaving London she promised her husband to take away her jewels to the bank but they were still in the safe. That night she had a party and she would wear them. But she forgot the number to open the lock. She offered a chance of escape if he could open the lock. Horace did it and escaped. The lady in red was another thief and took away the jewels. Horace was arrested after two days

   Probable Q&A on A Question of Trust

JUNE 21, 2019 / SAZZAD SODIAL.

A QUESTION OF TRUST

Q.1. What does Horace Danby like to collect? Why does he steal every year?

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

        He steals every year in order to see him through a year and to buy rare and expensive books through   an agent. For this, he planned carefully and robbed a safe every year.

Q.2. Who is Horace Danby? What kind of person is he? How did he become the Assistant Librarian in the prison?

Ans: Horace Danby is a good and respectable person in public view, but is not completely honest. He is a peculiar thief who robs a safe every year to buy books.

      Horace had served his first sentence in a prison library fifteen years ago. He was tricked by a charming and young lady who was in the same profession. He was caught by the police for robbery at Shot over Grange. At the prison, he was made the Assistant Librarian keeping in view his previous experience in the prison library.

Q.3. Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?

Ans: Horace Danby was a meticulous planner. Each year, he planned carefully just what he would do. Before robbing at Shotover Grange he had studied the house for two weeks, looked at its electric wiring, its paths and its garden. He crossed over the garden wall, carried his bag full of tools and entered the kitchen with the key hung outside. He wore a pair of gloves so that no fingerprint was left. He had already befriended their pet dog “Sherry”. He had even read a magazine article describing the interior of this house. Everything was done meticulously upto this. But when he could not resist sneezing, another thief, who was upstairs, got alarmed. She was a pretty young lady. She quickly understood that he was a thief. But Horace took her for the lady of the house. The lady took this opportunity and tricked him. Horace faltered because he had lesser presence of mind as compared to the lady. He had studied everything minutely except the people living in the house. Besides, he had a faith in the saying,‘honour among thieves’.

Q.4. 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 he suspect that something is wrong?

Ans: Horace Danby could not resist himself from sneezing inside Shot over Grange. Quite interestingly, there was another thief – a pretty young lady – upstairs, who had heard his sneezing. She came downstairs and asked him, “What is it? A cold or a hay fever?” Horace replied without a thought and then saw her. He thought her to be one of the family members. Instead of running away, he thought of avoiding trouble by treating her the right way. The lady was too cunning a thief. She threatened of handing him over to the police. Horace too tried to frighten, but to no effect. She began demoralising him saying, “Society must be protected from men like you”. Horace started begging her again and again to let him go. She agreed on one condition, that Horace must have to open the safe so that she might wear the jewels to a party that night. Horace did the same and went away happily. But on the third day, a policeman arrested him for jewel robbery.

Q.5. “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?

Ans: In public view, Horace Danby was good and respectable. He was about fifty years old and unmarried. He lived with a housekeeper. He ran the decent business of making locks. But, in actuality, he was a thief who stole every year to see him through the year. People thought he was honest, but he was not. So the quoted description is apt for Horace.

     Unlike a typical thief, Horace Danby robbed only once a year. He loved rare, expensive books. So he planned carefully each year to rob a safe in a rich family so that he may survive the whole year and buy b