Class 10 English — Footprints Without Feet · Chapter 4 NotesA Question of Trust

Horace Danby is about fifty years old, unmarried, and lives with a housekeeper who worries about his health. He runs a successful locksmith business with two helpers and is generally happy, except for hay fever attacks in summer. Everyone thinks he is a good, honest citizen, but he is not completely honest. Fifteen years ago he served his first and only sentence in a prison library. Since he loves rare and expensive books, he robs one safe every year, steals just enough money to last twelve months, and buys books secretly through an agent.

• Horace Danbyabout fifty, unmarried, a locksmith with two helpers
• Hobbycollecting rare and expensive books
• Crimerobs one safe every year to buy books
• Pastserved one sentence in a prison library fifteen years ago

For two weeks Horace studies Shotover Grange, noting its rooms, electric wiring, paths and garden. He learns that the family is in London and only two servants remain. On a bright July afternoon he watches the servants leave for the movies and comes out from behind the garden wall with his tools in a bag. He knows there are about fifteen thousand pounds' worth of jewels in the safe, and he expects to get at least five thousand pounds by selling them one by one. Three interesting books are coming up for sale in the autumn, and this money would let him buy them.

• Two weeks of careful study of the house
• Jewels worth about fifteen thousand pounds in the safe
• Expected incomeat least five thousand pounds
• Motivethree books coming up for sale in autumn

Horace finds the kitchen door key hanging on a hook outside, puts on gloves, and enters without leaving fingerprints. A small dog named Sherry greets him, and Horace keeps it quiet by calling it by name. Inside, the smell of flowers makes him sneeze. Suddenly a young, pretty woman in red stands in the doorway and asks whether he has a cold or hay fever. She speaks in a quiet, kindly but firm voice and seems amused rather than frightened. Horace thinks he can avoid trouble by treating her well, and he admits he did not expect to meet one of the family.

• Key to the kitchen door was hanging outside
• Horace wore gloves to avoid fingerprints
• Sherry, the dog, was calmed by Horace using its name
• The young woman in red appears and speaks to Horace

The woman warns Horace that if he runs, she will telephone the police. Horace replies that he would cut the telephone wires and make sure she could do nothing for a few hours. She asks if he would hurt her, and he says he was only trying to frighten her. She refuses to let him go, saying society must be protected from men like him. Horace argues that he steals only from those who have a lot of money and for a very good reason, and he hates the thought of prison. She finally agrees to let him go if he does something for her.

• The woman threatens to call the police
• Horace threatens to cut the wires and stop her for a few hours
• Horace says he steals only from the rich and for a good reason
• The woman offers a dealhelp her, and she will let him go

The woman explains that she promised her husband to take her jewels to the bank before leaving for London, but she left them in the safe. She wants to wear them to a party that night, but she has forgotten the numbers to open the safe. Horace offers to open it within an hour, warning that he will have to break the safe. She says her husband will not return for a month and she will have it mended. Horace takes off his gloves to give her his cigarette lighter, and then opens the safe without gloves. He gives her the jewels and leaves happily.

• The woman claims she forgot the safe numbers
• Horace agrees to break the safe open
• Horace removes his gloves to offer his lighter
• He opens the safe without gloves, leaving fingerprints

For two days Horace keeps his promise to the kind young lady. On the third morning he thinks of the books he wants and knows he must look for another safe. But by noon a policeman arrests him for the jewel robbery at Shotover Grange. His fingerprints are all over the room because he opened the safe without gloves. No one believes his story that the owner's wife asked him to open the safe. The real wife, a gray-haired, sharp-tongued woman of sixty, says the story is nonsense. Horace realises the charming young lady was a thief who tricked him.

• Horace is arrested by noon on the third day
• Fingerprints on the safe and room prove his involvement
• The real wife is a sixty-year-old gray-haired woman
• The young woman was a thief in the same profession as Horace

Horace is now the assistant librarian in the prison. He often thinks of the charming, clever young lady who was in the same profession as he was and who tricked him. He gets very angry when anyone talks about 'honour among thieves'. The story makes readers ask whether Horace was unfairly punished or deserved what he got, and whether good intentions can justify wrong actions. It also shows that trust can be misplaced and that even careful planners can falter when they let their guard down.

• Horace becomes the assistant librarian in the prison
• He is angry when 'honour among thieves' is mentioned
• The story questions whether intentions justify actions
• Trust can be betrayed, and careful plans can fail