CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet - A Question of Trust Summary & Notes

Summary of A Question of Trust

Chapter 4 of the Class 10 English Supplementary Reader ‘Footprints Without Feet’ consists of a prose lesson titled A Question of Trust. This is about a thief, Horace Danby, who got a taste of his own medicine. He used to steal occasionally. During one of his burglary attempts at a big mansion, he met a lady who cheated him, and he ended up behind bars for blindly believing her. Here, we present you a summary of the prose in the form of CBSE English Notes Class 10. CBSE 10th standard students can check the prose summary of A Question of Trust as given below.

Students can also practice CBSE Essays on various topics to improve their writing section for the English exam.

CBSE Class 10 English A Question of Trust Summary

A Question of Trust is written by Victor Canning. This story is about a thief, Horace Danby, who was a good citizen. He was an unmarried fifty-year-old man who used to work as a locksmith. He was a successful businessman too, and had two helpers to assist him. Although he was a respectable man, he was not completely honest. He had a liking for rare and fancy books and would purchase them by any means. To pursue his expensive hobby, he would rob a safe once every year and purchase the expensive books covertly through an agent. He would chalk out a well-devised plan before making any burglary attempt. This time he had his eyes on a house at Shotover Grange, and he carefully studied its rooms, electric wiring, its paths and garden for two weeks.

The family in that house was in London. One fine afternoon, the two caretakers of the house had gone to watch a movie. Horace realised this was the best time to execute his act. He came out from behind a wall of the garden and entered the house with all his tools packed in his bag. He had picked a key from the hook on the kitchen door. He quickly wore his gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints behind. He took the key from the hook and opened the door. He saw the dog, Sherry, that wagged its tail when it saw Horace.

Danby knew the safe was hidden behind a poor painting in the drawing room. There was a beautiful vase full of flowers kept on the table. He was allergic to the fragrance of flowers. He tickled his nose and kept sneezing repeatedly. He took out his tools and cut the burglar alarm. As he sneezed again loudly due to the fragrance of the flowers, he heard the voice of a young lady standing in the doorway behind him. The lady was dressed in red and pretended to be the house owner’s wife, and she managed to convince Horace to believe her. She said that she had come there without notice to collect her jewels as she wanted to wear those at a party that night.

Danby was frightened that the lady might hand him over to the police, so he requested her to let him go. She told him that she would allow him to leave only if he opened the safe for her as she left all the jewels in it. She mentioned that she had forgotten the safe’s number combination and didn’t know how to unlock it. Danby offered to help her and opened the safe without his gloves on. The young lady immediately took out all the jewels. Horace Danby left the house and went home happily, assuming that he had escaped imprisonment. For the first two days, he kept his promise to the young lady. However, a policeman arrested him on the third day for the burglary of jewels at Shotover Grange.

Horace Danby’s fingerprints were found all over the robbed place. Later, he confessed to committing the crime and that he had opened the safe for the young lady in the house but didn’t steal the jewels inside. In reality, it so happened that the lady was also a thief, and she convinced Horace to break open the safe for her. When he told this story to the police, no one believed him since the owner’s wife was a sixty-year-old woman, not the one Danby mentioned in his statement. In no time, the police arrested him, and he was put behind bars for the robbery case. He became the assistant librarian in the prison. He often thought of the charming, cunning young lady who was also a thief like him and tricked him into believing her. Henceforth, whenever anyone mentioned ‘honour among thieves’, he would get very angry and upset.

Conclusion of A Question of Trust

A Question of Trust focuses on the message for students that we should not trust anyone blindly without finding out the truth about that person. We hope this CBSE Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Prose Summary of A Question of Trust has helped students to grasp a thorough knowledge of the chapter. For more such amazing resources on CBSE Notes and CBSE study material, you can visit BYJU’S to access sample papers and question papers of different years. You can also download BYJU’S: The Learning App for interactive educational content.