'A Question of Trust' is a witty, ironic short story by Victor Canning from the Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet supplementary reader. It is the story of a seemingly honest thief who gets outsmarted by someone he trusted.
Author: Victor Canning.
Protagonist: Horace Danby (a locksmith and occasional thief).
The Con: A female thief pretended to be the lady of the house.
Irony: Horace was arrested; the real thief escaped.
Theme: Deceit and poetic justice.
Horace Danby was a middle-aged man who made locks for a living. He was a respected member of society, considered completely honest — yet once a year he planned and executed a carefully researched robbery to fund his real passion: buying rare and expensive books.
He had spent weeks studying the safe at Shotover Grange — a wealthy country house. He knew the family would be away at their London home. He broke in carefully, intending to steal enough jewels to last him another year.
He was stunned to find a young, charming woman in the house. She claimed to be the owner's wife who had forgotten her jewels for a party that evening. She convinced Horace that she knew about his criminal record and would call the police unless he opened the safe for her.
The woman was actually another thief. She had manipulated Horace perfectly — he opened the safe for her, and she took all the jewels. Horace was later arrested because he had touched everything without gloves. He was convicted of the robbery while she was never caught.
The story is deeply ironic: a thief was robbed and punished while the real thief escaped free. It raises questions about trust, appearance, and justice — and shows that crime ultimately harms the criminal himself.
Horace Danby was a respectable locksmith who once a year committed a carefully planned robbery to fund his love for rare books.
A thief (Horace) was tricked and robbed by another thief, and Horace was arrested and punished while the real thief escaped — a perfect ironic reversal.
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