Previous Year Questions: A Question of Trust | English Class 10 PDF Download

Ans: Horace Danby planned to rob a house but was deceived by a young lady inside. She claimed that the safe held her jewels and tricked him into opening it. Danby believed she was another thief, which led him to trust her. Ultimately, he was caught by the police, realising too late that he had been fooled by someone pretending to be the owner's wife.

Ans: Horace was a meticulous plannner. He had been studying the house at Shotover Grange for two weeks. He had studied the plan of the house, the electric wiring system, the paths and the garden. He had seen the housekeeper hang the keys of the kitchen door on a hook outside. When the family left for London and the two servants were off to the movies, he found the perfect time for the theft.

Ans: The lady in red was also a thief like Horace Danby. But it was the lady in the red dress who outmanoeuvred and outwitted Horace. No doubt, Horace did his job quite professionally. He worked hard to find out the necessary details about the location of the house and the position of the key and the safe.
But, Horace proved to be a novice in judging the young lady. The young lady acted with so much confidence and in such a convincing manner that she could easily pass off as the lady of the house. Horace Danby became a mere puppet who danced to the tune of the lady.
When caught red-handed, he pleaded her to let him go. The young lady exploited his confusion and fear of going to prison fully. She made Horace open the safe. The unsuspecting Horace was made to believe that he was working for the lady of the house. So he opened the safe without putting on his gloves.
He gave the jewels to the lady leaving his fingerprints on the safe. So he was found out and arrested. Naturally, the young lady in red proved far smarter.

Ans: The phrase 'honour among thieves' means that thieves would never cheat each other in their deeds. Horace gets angry at this phrase because he got cheated by another thief while he was in the midst of his planned robbery. He mistook the lady thief as the madam of the house and opened the safe for her so that she could have those jewels. Later when he was arrested, he found out that he was cheated.

Ans: 'Honour among thieves’ is a popular code among thieves to protect themselves from each other. Thieves follow his code and they are not supposed to cheat each other and double cross against themselves. According to this, the thieves help each other. In the story, 'The Question of Trust’, the main protagonist is very careful regarding his theft conducted once a year. But the lady in red, who is thief herself, does not follow the code and breads the code of honour that exists between them. Horace mistake the lady thief as the owner of the house and opened the safe for her so that she could have those jewels. This resulted its him going to the prison for the first time. Horace felt betrayed and his trust broken. 

Ans: Horace Danby was sure of his success in that year's robbery because he had gained enough information about the house he had planned to rob. He had been studying the house at Shotover Grange, looking at its rooms, its electric wiring, its paths, and its gardens. He even knew about the schedules of the people in the house, which made it easy for him to successfully rob the place.

Ans: Horace Danby was good and respectable but not completely honest because he was not a typical thief. He was fond of books, and to fulfill his desire to have books, he used to steal once every year. He never stole more than his needs. However, no matter how trivial the crime is, it remains a crime. Therefore, he could not be called completely honest.

Ans: Horace Danby was suffering from hay fever. Horace Danby's ailment made him sneeze relentlessly anytime he was in the presence of flowers or the smell of flowers entered his nostrils. It was because of his sneezing that he caught the attention of the gorgeous lady, who asked him to break the safe for her, and eventually got him arrested.

Ans: Horace Danby's hobby was collecting rare and expensive books. In order to fulfill his hobby, Horace would rob a safe every year. He would plan carefully just what to do, stole enough to last a year, and secretly purchased the rare, expensive books from an agent.

Ans: Horace studied the house, its rooms, gardens, electric wires, and all the other details about it quite carefully before the robbery. So, he was sure about the success of his robbery, as he had laid out a perfect plan according to his knowledge.

Ans: Horace suffered from an allergy known as hay fever. This condition caused him to sneeze uncontrollably when exposed to pollen or dust. The flowers in the room made his nose tickle, distracting him and hindering his ability to focus on his work.

Ans: In the kitchen, Horace Danby encountered a small dog named Sherry. He greeted her warmly by name, which helped to keep her calm. Horace applied tact by being friendly, knowing it would prevent the dog from barking and alerting anyone.

Ans: Horace Danby had a deep passion for rare and expensive books. To fulfil this desire, he committed a robbery each year. He carefully planned these heists, using the stolen money to secretly purchase the books he cherished through an agent.