English: Class 10 (footprints without feet) — Chapter 4: A Question of Trust

Horace Danby is a fifty-year-old unmarried lockmaker who is widely regarded as a good, honest citizen. However, he has a secret: he is not completely honest. To fund his expensive passion for collecting rare and valuable books, he robs one safe every single year. He plans each heist meticulously to ensure he steals just enough to last him twelve months.

Horace targets a house at Shotover Grange, which contains fifteen thousand pounds' worth of jewels. He spends two weeks studying the house's layout, wiring, and paths. When the servants leave for the movies, Horace breaks in, carrying his tools. However, his break-in is hindered by a severe attack of hay fever triggered by a bowl of flowers in the drawing room.

While sneezing, Horace is confronted by a young, pretty woman dressed in red who claims to be the wife of the house's owner. She acts calm, confident, and treats Horace with an amused authority. She threatens to call the police unless Horace helps her. She claims she forgot the combination to the safe and needs her jewels for a party that night.

Eager to please her and secure his freedom, Horace takes off his gloves and cracks the safe for her. He hands over the jewels and leaves happily. Two days later, Horace is arrested by the police. His fingerprints are found all over the safe because he opened it without gloves. It is revealed that the young woman was actually a clever thief herself; the real wife of the owner is a sixty-year-old, sharp-tongued woman who dismisses Horace's story as nonsense.

• Profession: Successful lockmaker.
• Motivation: Steals once a year solely to buy rare, expensive books.
• Weaknesses: Suffers from hay fever; overly trusting and easily manipulated under pressure.
• Fate: Ends up as an assistant librarian in prison, bitter about the concept of honor among thieves.

• Identity: A highly clever, unnamed professional thief.
• Traits: Confident, sharp-witted, manipulative, and calm under pressure.
• Role: Outsmarts Horace by posing as the lady of the house, using his fear of prison to make him open the safe and leave his fingerprints behind.

The story explores the classic proverb honour among thieves. Horace believes in this unspoken code of conduct, which leads him to trust the young woman. However, she exploits this trust to save herself and frame him, proving that there is no true honor in their profession.

Both main characters project false identities. Horace appears to be a respectable citizen but is a thief. The young woman appears to be the elegant owner of the house but is actually a cunning burglar. Horace's failure to see past her appearance leads to his downfall.

1. 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?
2. 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?
3. “Horace Danby was good and respectable — but not completely honest”. Why do you think this description is apt for Horace? Why can’t he be categorised as a typical thief?
4. Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go wrong and why?

1. Do you think Horace Danby was unfairly punished, or that he deserved what he got?
2. Do intentions justify actions? Would you, like Horace Danby, do something wrong if you thought your ends justified the means?