Class 10 English book Footprint: A Question of Trust Lesson 4

Everyone thought Horace Danby was a good and honest man. He was around fifty years old, unmarried, and lived with a housekeeper who always worried about his health. He was usually happy and healthy, except during summers when he got hay fever.

Horace made locks and was quite successful in his business. He even had two helpers. But there was a secret—Horace was not completely honest. Fifteen years ago, he went to jail for the first time. He loved rare and expensive books. To buy them, he stole money once every year. He planned his robberies carefully, stole enough to last him a year, and then bought the books secretly through an agent.

One sunny July afternoon, Horace was ready for this year’s robbery. For two weeks, he had been watching a house called Shotover Grange. He studied its rooms, electric wiring, paths, and garden. He knew the family was in London, and the two servants had gone to watch a movie. Horace felt happy as he saw them leave, though he had a small tickle in his nose because of hay fever.

He came out from behind the garden wall, carrying a bag of tools on his back. Inside the Grange, there were jewels worth fifteen thousand pounds in the safe. Horace planned to sell the jewels one by one and earn at least five thousand pounds.

Horace was excited about the robbery. The jewels would give him enough money to live happily for another year and buy three rare books he wanted, which would be sold in autumn. He had seen the housekeeper hang the kitchen door key on a hook outside. Wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, he took the key and opened the door. A small dog was lying in the kitchen. It made a noise and wagged its tail in a friendly way.

“Good boy, Sherry,” Horace said as he passed by. He knew that calling dogs by their name and being kind kept them quiet. The safe was in the drawing room, hidden behind a not-so-good painting. Horace thought for a moment about collecting paintings instead of books, but books were better because they needed less space.

There was a big bowl of flowers on the table, and the smell made Horace sneeze. He put down his bag and arranged his tools. He had four hours before the servants came back. The safe wasn’t hard for Horace to open since he was an expert with locks. The burglar alarm was weak, so he went to the hall to cut its wire. When he returned, the flowers made him sneeze loudly again.

Horace thought people were careless with their valuable things. A magazine had written about this house, even showing a picture of the drawing room and mentioning that the safe was hidden behind the painting. But the flowers were troubling Horace. He buried his face in his handkerchief when suddenly, a voice spoke from the doorway. “What is it? A cold or hay fever?” Without thinking, Horace replied, “Hay fever,” and sneezed again. The voice continued, “You should see a doctor. There are treatments for hay fever if you find out which plant is causing it. I heard you sneezing from upstairs.”

The voice was calm and kind, but it also sounded firm. A woman stood in the doorway, and Sherry, the dog, was rubbing against her. She was young, quite pretty, and wore a red dress. She walked to the fireplace and adjusted the ornaments there.

“Down, Sherry,” she said. “Anyone would think I’ve been away for a month!” She smiled at Horace and said, “But I came back just in time, though I didn’t expect to meet a burglar.” Horace felt a little hopeful because she seemed amused to see him. He thought he might avoid trouble if he spoke to her carefully.“I didn’t expect to meet one of the family,” he said.

She nodded and replied, “I can see it’s quite inconvenient for you to meet me. So, what are you going to do now?”

Horace said, “At first, I thought of running away.”

“Of course, you could do that,” she said, “but I would call the police and tell them all about you. They’d catch you very quickly.”

Horace smiled and said, “I would cut the telephone wires first. Then…” He stopped and smiled again. “I’d make sure you couldn’t do anything for a few hours.”

She looked serious and asked, “Would you hurt me?”

Horace paused before saying, “I think I only wanted to scare you by saying that.”

“You didn’t scare me,” she replied calmly.

Horace tried to convince her. “It would be better if you just forgot about seeing me and let me go.”

Her voice suddenly became sharp. “Why should I? You were going to rob me. If I let you go, you’ll just rob someone else. People like you are dangerous for society.”

Horace smiled. “I don’t hurt society. I only steal from rich people who have plenty of money. I do it for a good reason, and I hate the idea of going to prison.”

She laughed. Horace thought he was convincing her, so he begged, “Look, I know I don’t have the right to ask, but I’m desperate. Please let me go, and I promise I’ll never do this again. I really mean it.”

She stayed silent for a moment, watching him closely. Then she said, “You’re really afraid of prison, aren’t you?”

She came closer, shaking her head. “I always seem to like the wrong kind of people.”

She picked up a silver box from the table and took out a cigarette. Hoping to please her, Horace quickly took off his gloves and gave her his cigarette lighter.

“You’ll let me go?” he asked, holding the lighter towards her.

“Yes,” she said, “but only if you do something for me.”

“Anything you say,” Horace replied eagerly.

“Before we left for London, I promised my husband I’d take my jewels to the bank, but I left them in the safe. I need them tonight for a party, so I came back to get them. But…”

Horace smiled and said, “You’ve forgotten the safe’s combination, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” the young lady admitted.

“Don’t worry,” Horace said. “I’ll open it for you. You’ll have your jewels in an hour. But I’ll have to break the safe.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “My husband won’t be back for a month, and I’ll have the safe repaired before then.”

In just an hour, Horace opened the safe, gave the young lady the jewels, and left happily.

For two days, he kept his promise to her. But on the third day, he started thinking about the books he wanted. He realized he would need to find another safe to rob.

However, he never got the chance to start. By noon, a policeman arrested him for the jewel robbery at Shotover Grange.

Horace had made a big mistake. He had taken off his gloves while opening the safe, so his fingerprints were all over the room. When he told the police that the owner’s wife had asked him to open the safe, no one believed him. The real owner’s wife, a sharp-tongued, grey-haired woman of sixty, said his story was complete nonsense.

Now, Horace works as an assistant librarian in the prison. He often thinks about the clever, charming young lady who tricked him. She was a thief too, just like him. Horace gets very angry whenever someone talks about "honour among thieves."

Questions & Answers

Q 1. What does Horace Danby like to collect?
Horace Danby likes to collect rare and expensive books.
Q 2. Why does he steal every year?

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

Q 3. Who is speaking to Horace Danby??

A young, pretty lady in a red dress stood in the doorway talking to Horace Danby. She said she came back just in time to stop him from robbing her family, pretending to be their member.

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

The real thief in the story is the woman who tricked Horace Danby. She made him believe she was part of the family at Shotover Grange and cleverly stole all the jewels from the safe.

Q 5. Was Horace Danby a typical thief?

No, Horace Danby was not a typical thief. He only stole once a year to buy rare books. However, he was tricked by a clever woman and ended up stealing for her.

Think About It

1. Did you begin to suspect before the end of the story that the lady was not the person Horace Danby thought she was? If so, when and how did you discover this?

Yes, I suspected the lady was not the real owner when she remained calm after seeing Horace. A real homeowner would be scared. When he asked her to open the safe because she had "forgotten" the combination, I knew she was tricking him.

1. Why did Horace Danby steal only once a year?
He stole to buy rare books he wanted.

2. Who tricked Horace Danby, and how?
A woman pretending to be part of the family tricked him.

3. What did Horace plan to do with the stolen jewels?
He planned to sell them for money.

4. Why did Horace trust the woman at Shotover Grange?
She pretended to be a family member.

5. How did the woman cleverly take advantage of Horace?
She made Horace open the safe and stole the jewels.

6. What lesson can we learn from this story?
Never trust strangers easily.

7. Was Horace a professional thief? Why or why not?
No, he only stole once a year for books.

8. What made Horace’s robbery attempt fail in the end?
He was tricked by the woman.

1. A Triumph of Surgery – Summary, Questions & Answers for Class 10 Footprint English