Short Answer Questions: A Question of Trust | English Class 10 PDF Download

Class 10 English Chapter "A Question of Trust"  is about a thief who gets a taste of his own deeds. The story reminds us to be careful when we trust someone and to take time to get to know them before depending on them completely. Let us see some Short Answer Questions of this chapter in this EduRev document: 

Q1: Why was it not hard to open the safe for Horace Danby?:
Ans: It was not going to be hard to open the safe for Horace Danby. After all, he had `lived with locks and safes all his life’. He made locks himself with two helpers. The burglar alarm was poorly built and he cut the wires of the burglar alarm. He knew about the safe and the key, and it was not a difficult job for him to open it when no one was present in the house.

Q2: Whose voice was it that advised Horace about the special treatment of his hay fever?
Ans: When Horace was about to open the safe, he heard a female voice. She asked if he suffered from a cold or hay fever. He was sneezing again and again. She told that he could cure the hay fever with special treatment. He must find out what plant gave him that disease. She also advised Horace to see a doctor.

Q3: Describe the unexpected meeting of the young lady in red and Horace.
Ans: When a voice advised Horace to find a suitable treatment of his hay fever, he was surprised. It was a quiet, kindly voice but one with firmness in it. A young woman, quite pretty and dressed in red was standing there. She walked to the fireplace and straightened the ornaments. She said that she “didn’t expect to meet a burglar”.

Q4: Why did the woman in red threaten to call the police?
Ans: Horace was caught red-handed. The woman in red said that she didn’t expect to meet a burglar there. She added that she knew that it had been a great inconvenience for him to meet her. She also asked what he was going to do. Horace replied that he was thinking of running away. The lady threatened that if he did so, she would call the police and tell them all about him. They would get him at once.

Q5: When and why did the woman in red say, “Society must be protected from men like you”? Doesn’t it sound ironical?
Ans: Horace assured the woman in red that he would not hurt her. She must forget she ever met him. It made her angry. She couldn’t let him go, otherwise, he would rob someone else. Society must be protected from people like him. It sounds ironic because she herself was a thief and had come for the same purpose for which Horace was there in the house.

Q6: “I have always liked the wrong kind of people,” said the woman in red. Comment.
Ans: It was ironic that the woman who was being considered as the lady of the house and talking big things was herself a thief. Horace requested her to let him go. He was desperate and afraid of going to prison. He promised never to do such a thing again. The lady pretended to be generous and stated that she “always liked the wrong kind of people”.

Q7: Who is the real culprit in the story, the young lady in red or Horace Danby? Comment.
Ans: Law of any land works on evidence. Horace Danby opened the safe without wearing his gloves. He didn’t think it necessary to wear them as he thought he was working for ‘the lady of the house’. So the police matched his fingerprints and he was arrested. The lady in the red was actually the real culprit. She made Horace open the safe for her. She was also a thief and decamped with the jewels. But in the eyes of the law, Horace was the real culprit because the evidence was against him.

Q8: Why didn’t the dog bark when Horace Danby and the young lady in red entered to commit theft in the house?
Ans: Both, Horace Danby and the young lady in red knew all the tricks of their trade. They knew the real nature of dogs and how to be friendly with them. A small dog when made a noise, Horace called out “All right, Sherry,” as he passed. Perhaps, the lady in red also knew like Horace that to keep dogs quiet, one must call them by their right names. Their trick worked and Sherry remained quiet.

Q9: Why did Horace Danby prefer books to collecting paintings?
Ans: Horace Danby had a passion for books. Collecting and buying rare and expensive books was his passionate hobby. He resorted to robbing a safe every year to buy them. When the preference between collecting books and paintings came, he chose the former. The paintings took up too much space. In a small house like his, books were a better choice.

Q10: Why didn’t Horace Danby ever get any chance to look for another safe?
Ans: Horace got nothing from the house at Shotover Grange. The lady in red decamped with the jewels. For two days, he kept his promise given to the kind, young lady in red. On the third day, he realized that he would have to look for another safe to buy books. But he never got that chance because the police arrested him for the jewel robbery at Shotover Grange.

Q11: Which of the two lacked honor?
Ans: Among the two the young lady lacked honor. She came face to face with a thief, still, she tricked ‘him. But Horace did not know that she was a thief. She got all the jewels. She went free but poor Horace was arrested. It was against the profession of thieves.

Q12: How did Horace Danby manage to get rare and expensive books?
Ans: Horace Danby loved rare and expensive books. He bought them secretly through an agent. But for this, he had to rob a safe every year because he did not have enough money to buy these books. In this way, he managed to get these rare and expensive books.

Q13: What did the young lady asked Horace to do for her?
Ans: The young lady told Horace that she had come there to take the jewel from the safe. She said that she had to wear them that night at a party. She made an excuse of forgetting the number to open the safe. So she compelled Horace to break open the safe for her if not she would tell the police everything about him.

Q14: What story did Horace tell the police when he was arrested?
Ans: He told the police that he had not stolen any jewels. He said that he broke open the safe for the young wife of the owner of the house. But the wife was herself an old lady of about sixty with grey hair. So, none believed his story.

Q15: Why did he rob every year? Was he a typical thief? If so, why?
Ans: Horace loved reading rare and expensive books. So he robbed a safe every year to buy these books. He was a typical thief because he robbed only one safe every year.

Q16: He was a very successful thief. What went wrong when he attempted to rob Shotover Grange?
Ans: Danby was a very successful thief. He always used gloves while breaking a safe. He never left any fingerprints behind. This time when he started his work, he felt a little tickle in his nose. It was because of a big flower pot lying on the table. He was repeatedly sneezing. This happened wrong with him.

Q17: Did the young lady expect Horace to be caught after the theft?
Ans: Yes, the young lady expected Horace to be caught after the theft. She thought that it would be very easy to detect Horace with the help of fingerprints.

Q18: In what way could his arrest have helped her?
Ans: If Horace Danby was arrested for the jewels robbery at Shotover Grange then she could be safe. She got the jewels but Horace broke the safe for her. Thus, his arrest could have helped her by making her tension free.

Q19: Did Horace get the jewels from the Grange safe? If not, why did the police arrest him?
Ans: No, Horace did not get the jewels from the Grange safe. But he broke open the safe for the wife of the owner of the house without gloves. But in reality, that lady was a burglar. Thus, there were Horace’s fingerprints all over the room. So, the police arrested him for stealing the jewels from the Grange safe.

Q20: Who was Horace Danby?
Ans: Horace Danby was about fifty years old and unmarried. Everyone thought that he was a good and honest citizen. He lived with a housekeeper who worried about his health. He suffered from attacks of hay fever in the summer. He made locks and was successful at his business. But he was not completely honest. He robbed a safe once a year to buy rare and costly books.

Q21: Why was Horace Dan by not completely honest?
Ans: Generally, people thought that Horace Danby was a good, honest and respectable citizen. However, he was not completely honest. He robbed a safe every year. This was done to get the necessary money for the purchase of ‘rare and expensive’ books. The money he stole was enough to last a year. He secretly bought the books he loved through an agent.

Q22: What preparations did Horace make for ‘this year’s robbery’ at Shotover Grange?
Ans: All the previous yearly robberies of Horace Danby were successful. He felt sure that this year’s robbery at Shot over Grange would also be successful. He had been studying the location of the house for two weeks. He studied its rooms, electric wiring, paths, and garden. He found out that the two servants had gone to the movies. He had seen the housekeeper hang the key to the kitchen door on a hook outside.

Q23: How did Horace Danby enter the house?
Ans: Horace Danby had been preparing for the theft. He studied the house carefully for two weeks before committing the theft in the house at Shotover Grange. He studied its rooms, electric wiring, paths and its garden. He had seen the housekeeper hang the key to the kitchen door on a hook outside. He put on a pair of gloves, took the key and opened the door. Thus, he entered the house at Shotover Grange.

Q24: What precautions did Horace make before reaching the safe? Name three of them.
Ans: Horace Danby took the following precautions before committing the theft:
(i)He put on a pair of gloves as he was always careful not to leave any fingerprints.
(ii) To tackle the house-dog, Sherry, he kept him quiet and friendly by calling him by his right name.
(iii) He cut the wire of the burglar bell.

Also Check at EduRev:

• Explanation: A Question of Trust 
• Detailed Summary: A Question of Trust

Q25: Why did Horace mistake the young lady in red as the lady of the house?
Ans: The young woman in red was even smarter than Horace Danby. She was a thief and came with the same purpose as Horace to that house. However, she encountered Horace with an air of confidence and authority. She didn’t allow him to doubt or think about her. She showed that the dog, Sherry, belonged to her. He told him that she returned ‘home’ just in time. Her manner of speaking, gestures, and confidence made Horace mistake her to be the lady of the house.

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