Summary & Question-answers of The Chapter:4- A Question of Trust with the concerned video

 

A Question of Trust Summary

The story is about a 50 year old man who makes locks and lives with his housekeeper. He is a good citizen but not an honest one as he commits a robbery every year. He plans his robberies in such a way that the money he gets from there lasts him for at least an year and he is able to buy rare and expensive books with it. He buys these books because he is really fond of collecting rare and expensive books. He plans to commit a robbery at a grange named Shotover Grange. He takes all the information about the house like where the family had gone, how many servants were there in the house, what was the name of the dog, the wiring in the house, the safe in the house and even information like how much worth of jewels were there in the safe. The real twist in the story comes when he reaches the grange to commit a robbery and a woman claiming to be the owner’s wife enters. She gives him an option that she will forget that she had seen him if he opens the safe for her as she has forgotten the code of the safe and has to go to a party. He does not realize that he is opening the safe for another thief and that she is not the actual owner of the house. He leaves happily thinking that he is safe but doesn’t realize the fact that he had opened the safe for someone else that too without wearing his gloves. 3 days later a police officer comes and arrests him saying that his fingerprints had been found at the shotover grange. He then realizes that he had been fooled by a lady who was herself a thief and from the same background as his. He is sent to the jail and becomes an assistant librarian. He feels angry whenever someone talks about honour among thieves as he had been cheated by one from his own community.Q1) What does Horace Danby like to collect?

Ans) Horace Danby likes to collect old, expensive and rare books.

Q2) Why does he steal every year?

Ans) He used to steal every year in a very systematic and planned manner. He used to steal enough to last him for 12 months and so that he could buy the rare and expensive books that he used to like through a secret agent.

Q3) Who is speaking to Horace Danby?

Ans) There was a woman standing in the doorway who was speaking to Horace Danby. She was a young, beautiful lady and was dressed in red colour. She was pretending to be one of the family members.

 Q4)Who is the real culprit in the story?

Ans) The real culprit in the story is the woman who pretended to be a family member of the family living at the grange. She cleverly acted as a family member and made Horace believe that she wanted him to open the safe just because she had forgotten the passcode. Horace believed her and opened the safe and gave her all the jewels that were inside the safe and later, she took away all the jewels.

 Q5) 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?

Ans) Yes, one does begin to suspect that the woman is not who she claims to be. She was unusually calm on seeing Horace near the locker. Then she doesn’t even call the police and also asks him to open the locker for her even if it means breaking it open as she had forgotten the code of the safe. It is very unusual that someone forgets the passcode to their own locker.

 Q6) 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?

Ans) The way she walks up to the doorway, starts talking to him, arranges the ornaments in their right place and picks up the silver cigarette box with so much confidence can make anyone believe that she is the lady of the house. Apart from that, Horace had become nervous and frightened when he saw the woman in the doorway and due to that he could not think properly.

 Q7) Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?

Ans) The place where he went wrong was that he did not gather enough information about the real occupants of the house. He gathered all the information about the tracks, wirings, gardens, servants and even the dog’s name but he still forgot to overlook the identities of the house owners. He even took out the information of the valuables inside the safe. Once he got into a problem, he could not even think properly and carelessly opened the safe and touched many things in the room without wearing his gloves.