A Question of Trust — RBSE Class 10 English (Footprints without Feet)
A thief who steals only once a year, to buy the rare books he loves, breaks into a house he has carefully studied — and gets caught, not by the police, but by a con artist far cleverer than himself. Victor Canning's story is a neat little lesson wrapped in a twist: even a criminal can be undone by his own trust.
1. Who is Horace Danby?
Horace Danby was about fifty, unmarried, and lived with a housekeeper who worried about his health. To everyone he seemed a good, respectable citizen who made locks — but he was, in secret, a successful burglar. He was not a typical criminal: he loved rare, expensive books, and every year he robbed one safe to get the money to buy the books he wanted, quietly, through an agent.
That year, he had planned to rob Shotover Grange, a country house whose family were away. He had studied it for two weeks — the number of servants, their habits, the jewels in the safe worth £15,000.
2. The clever trap
While Horace was at work on the safe (he had removed the screws from the burglar alarm and was ready), a young woman entered the room. She was well dressed and charming, and Horace assumed she was the lady of the house (the wife of the owner). She caught him "red-handed" but, instead of calling the police, she pretended to be understanding.
She told him she too needed the jewels — she had forgotten the safe's key and did not want to call the family's servants or the police because of the "scandal." She persuaded Horace that if he opened the safe for her, she would let him go free. Trusting her, and grateful to escape arrest, Horace opened the safe with his gloves off (she assured him gloves were unnecessary) and handed her the jewels. She thanked him sweetly and let him leave.
3. The twist — the tables turned
Days later, Horace was arrested. The real family had returned to find the jewels gone — and the only fingerprints on the safe were Horace's, because the woman had tricked him into removing his gloves. The "lady of the house" had in fact been another thief, cleverer than he was, who had used him to open the safe and then walked off with the jewels, leaving Horace to take the blame.
Horace was sentenced to prison. There, ironically, the prison doctor had a wife who reminded him of the woman — and Horace, still not fully understanding how neatly he had been fooled, was left grumbling about "honesty" among thieves.
4. Themes
- Deception and being outwitted — a cunning criminal is beaten by a cleverer one.
- Misplaced trust — Horace's downfall is that he trusted a stranger; the title, "A Question of Trust," is ironic.
- Crime does not pay — the burglar is caught and punished, and even his "one honest year" backfires.
- Irony and humour — a thief complaining about dishonesty, and being jailed for a theft he did commit but did not profit from.
5. Closing thought
The whole story turns on its clever title. Horace Danby's mistake is not greed but trust — he believes a well-spoken stranger, lets down his guard (and his gloves), and does the hard work of the robbery only to be robbed of the reward and framed for the crime. Victor Canning leaves us with a wry irony: a man who breaks the law for a living is finally undone because he trusted the wrong person — and even ends up preaching about honesty. The lesson beneath the laughter is timeless: misplaced trust can cost you everything.
For the RBSE board, remember who Horace Danby is (a book-loving annual burglar), how the young woman tricks him (posing as the owner, getting his gloves off), the twist (his fingerprints, his arrest), and the ironic theme of trust and being outwitted. Character- and irony-based questions are common.
