A Question of Trust Class 10 Solutions: Victor canning, A British, writer is the author of this story ‘A Question of Trust’. The story is all about a question of trust, though here it is in the form of the question of trust about ‘honour among thieves’. Horace Danby is a passionate lover and reader of rare and expensive books. He commits theft every year to get money to fulfil this passion. Despite his all well thought out plans, he is smartly deceived by a lady thief that lands him into the jail. Here are given answers to all the questions given in the exercises as well as in line in the story.

A Question of Trust NCERT Solutions CBSE Class 10

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Read and Find Out

1. What does Horace Danby like to collect?

 Answer: Horace Danby likes to collect rare and expensive books.

2. Why does he steal every year?

Answer: He is a usual or a type of eccentric thief who commits theft once year to buy rare and expensive books he loved to have in his collections.

3. Who is speaking to Horace Danby?

Answer:  A pretty charming young lady wearing a red dress is speaking to Horace can be. Here she pretends to the wife of the owner of the house. But she is a thief like him who very smartly outwits him to get away with the jewels and making him to suffer in the jail.

4. Who is the real culprit in the story?

Answer:  The real culprit is the lady thief. Though Horace himself was there to steal but the lady herself was a thief yet she deceived him. She Pretended to be the owner of the house. She tricked Horace Danby into believing her and cleverly took away all the jewels that we were kept in the safe. The real thief was not caught but it is Horace Danby who suffers the jail imprisonment.

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Think About It

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?

Answer: The suspicion was subtle but was there. Who would like to take help from a thief who wanted to break your own safe for robbery? She was unusually calm on seeing Horace. This seemed strange. She did not call the police and instead asked Horace to take out all the jewels from the safe, even if it meant breaking it open. Moreover, it was highly unlikely that she would forget the number combinations to open the safe. All these points raise suspicion about the real credentials of the lady.

2. What was 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?

Answer: Her confident walk, her familiarity with the dog Sherry, her act of touching up her makeup and the ease with which she picks a cigarette from the right place are enough to deceive anybody. Horace was too frightened to think properly, so he didn’t expect anything.

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?

Answer: Horace’s habits were not typical of a thief. He was fond of books. He used to steal only once in a year so he was never stealing more than his needs. However, an act of theft is still a crime, no matter how well a thief behaves, so this description is apt for Horace. He can’t be categorised as a typical thief because he is not a regular offender like other thieves.

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

Answer: Horace Danby failed to get enough information about the real occupants of the house. He seems to be to occupied with collecting information about the house map, wiring and location of valuable items. Although he was smart enough to know the dog’s actual name, he overlooked getting information about the occupants of the house. When he landed in trouble with the appearance of the young lady, his clever mind gave way to carelessness leading him to open the save without wearing gloves.

Talk About It

1. Do you think Horace Danby was unfairly punished, or that he deserved what he got?

Answer: Though I sympathise with Horace Danby but a crime is a crime, no matter if it is committed for your own benefit or somebody else’s benefit. He was also unfairly punished because the real culprit was free and the wrong person was sentenced for the theft he did not commit.

2. Do intentions justify actions? Would you, like Horace Danby, do something wrong if you thought your ends justified the means? Do you think that there are situations in which it is excusable to act less than honesty?

Answer: A famous maxim states, “Ends do not justify means” even if all happens unintentionally. Tricking intentionally for one’s own benefit is dishonesty utmost and must be deplored and brought to justice. I consider it no justification to rob whereby Horace said that he robbed only rich people to fulfil the desire of having rare and expensive books. One should go by their legal income and ethical ways.

I won’t do anything wrong to achieve my goals and then justify my wrong means. I wish to have a car or a big house but this does not justify my any unethical or dishonest approaches to achieve what I want.

Though, in rare circumstances, a less honest actions can be performed if it pertains to our national interests or the greater cause of humanity to save the innocents.