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| A Question of Trust |
SEBA Class 10 English : Supplementary Reader
A Question of Trust
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q. 1. Who is Horace Danby? What type of a man was he?
Ans. Horace Danby was thought to be a good and honest citizen. He was about fifty years old and unmarried. He lived with a house-keeper who was very much worried about his health. Usually he was very well and happy except for attacks of hay fever in summer. He was by profession a lock maker. His business was successful and he employed two helpers. Danby was good and respectable but not complete by honest.
Fifteen years ago, Horace Danby had served his first and only sen tence in prison library. He loved rare expensive books. So, every year he robbed a safe. Every year he planned about what he would do. He would steal enough money to last for twelve months. Then he would buy the books through an agent. So, it may be said that he was not completely honest because no honest man would steal over to buy books or any thing he loves.
Q. 2. Who did Harce Danby enter the house at Shotover Grange? What was his purpose?
Ans. For two weeks Danby had been studying the house at Shotover Grange. It was bright July sunshine. Walking under the bright sun he thought that, that year's robbery was going to be successful as the oth ers He had done earlier. he had been studying the rooms, the electric wirings, paths and gardens in the room. The house owner and his family was in London. That afternoon the two servants who remained in the Grange had gone to the movies. Horace saw them go, and in spite of a tickle of hay fever in his nose, he felt happy. He came out from behind the garden wall. On his back was a bag packed with his tools. He knew that there were fifteen thousand pounds worth of jewels in the Grange safe which would be enough to look him through a year and to buy the three very interesting book that were in the autumn. Danby had seen the house keeper hang the key on the kitchen door. He put a pair of gloves and opened the door. Thus Horace Danby entered the house.
Q. 3. What did Horace Danby see after he entered the house at Shotover Grange?
Ans. On entering the kitchen Horace Danby found small dog lying there. It raised a noise and waved its tail in a friendly manner. Horace called the dog by its name sherry and treated it lovingly. Then entering the drawing room he saw the safe behind a poor painting. At first Horace wondered whether he should collect pictures instead of books. Then he saw a great bowl of flowers on the table. Horace felt irritation in his nose. He gave a little sneeze and then put down his bags. He arranged his tools carefully and knew that he had only four hours before the servants would. return. The burglar alarm in the house was poorly built. Horace, an expert in lock making knew that it would not be hard to open the safe. Coming back he sneezed loudly as the smell of the flowers irritated him again. Horace then found that the flowers were hindering him. So he covered his face with a handkerchief. Just then he heard a voice coming from the doorway.
Q.4. Give a brief account of Horace Danby's meeting with the lady in the house at shotover Grange?
Ans. Horace Danby was thinking of opening the safe in the drawing room of the house. Just then he heard a voice coming from the doorway. Horace saw a woman standing in the doorway. She said that she had heard him from the top of the house. The dog. Sherry was rubbing against her. Horace found the woman young and pretty and dressed in red. She want to the fireplace and straightened the ornaments there. The woman pretended to be the mistress of the house and said that she came just in time but did not expect to meet a burglar. Horace replied that he did not expect to meet one of the family. The woman said that she would have called the police if he wanted to run away. Thus they went on talking. The woman's voice grew sharp telling him that she would not like to allow him slip.
Finally she asked him to open the safe with his tools which she would get it repaired within a month when her husband would be away from home. Horace opened the safe and gave her the jewels and happily es caped from the house.
SEBA Class 10th A question of trust Important Questions Answers
Q. 5. How did Horace Danby come to be an assistant librarian in the prison?
Ans. For two days Horace kept his promise to the young woman for whom he had opened the safe. On the morning of the third day he began to think of the books he wanted and for that purpose he wanted a new safe. But he never got the chance to begin his plans. By noon he was arrested for the robbery at Shotover Grange. His finger prints were found all over the room. Pressure he had opened the safe without gloves. He said that the wife of the house owner had asked him to open the safe for her. But no one believed him. The wife was a lady of sixty. She was a grey haired, sharp tongued woman. She herself said that the story told by Danby was nervous. In the prison he was made the assistant librarian. He often thinks of the young lady who had duped and tricked him.
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Q.6. How did the young lady trick Horace Danby?
Ans. Horace Danby was about to open the safe that the found in the drawing room of the house at Shotover Grange. Just then a young lady standing in the doorway said that she had heard him from the top of the house. She pretended to be the wife of the house owners. Horace thought of running away. But the woman threatened to telephone the police. Horace said that he would cut the telephone wires. The lady aksed if he wanted to kill her. Horace suggested that she should forget that she had seen him. The woman raised her voice to frightened him. He told her that to be robbed those who had money and he hatred to got to prison. Then she changed her tune and said that she had always liked the wrong type of people. Then lighting a cigeratte she asked him to open the safe. She added that she had forgotten the number to open the safe. Horace Danby promised to open it in an hour. He did it because the women told him that she wanted the jewels for a party that night. Accordingly Horace opened the safe within an hour and gave the jewels to her. Later on he found that the woman was not the wife of the houseowner but one of his line who was superior to him in intelligence and trick.
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