Explanation

• Statement 1 is True: Horace Danby had an intense passion for rare and expensive books, committing a meticulously planned burglary once every year specifically to fund his purchases through an agent.
• Statement 2 is False: Being a book lover has no universal link to being gullible; Horace was outwitted because the young woman posed convincingly as the lady of the house and manipulated his fear of imprisonment.

Explanation

Fifteen years prior to the events of the story, Horace had served his only sentence in a prison library because he robbed a safe. That early conviction led him to take up prison librarian duties, which further fueled his love for rare books.

Explanation

Now serving as the assistant librarian in prison, Horace gets infuriated whenever anyone mentions ‘honour among thieves’, because he was thoroughly betrayed and framed by a fellow thief who walked away with the jewels while leaving him to take the blame.

Explanation

The lady in red pretended she needed her jewels to wear to a party that night but claimed she had forgotten the safe's combination. Desperate to escape police arrest, Horace offered to crack the safe and extract the jewellery for her within an hour.

Explanation

As an expert locksmith who built and repaired locks in his thriving business, he had lived with locks and safes all his life. The safe at Shotover Grange was poorly constructed, with a simple burglar alarm that took him only minutes to cut.

Explanation

The story introduces Horace Danby as an unmarried man of about fifty years old. He was widely regarded by his neighbors as a respectable, good citizen, though he was not completely honest.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: Horace was a bachelor who lived comfortably with a domestic housekeeper (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: The housekeeper cared for him and worried over his health, particularly his seasonal allergic attacks during the summer (True, and explains A).

Explanation

Although generally healthy, Horace suffered from recurrent attacks of hay fever in the summer. Scented flowers irritated his nasal passages, inducing tickles and sneezing fits that ultimately betrayed his presence at Shotover Grange.

Explanation

• a – 2 (Daytime occupation): Horace operated a legitimate, successful business making locks.
• b – 3 (Chief passion): He held a passion for collecting rare and expensive books.
• c – 1 (Purchasing method): He bought high-end collector editions secretly through an agent.

Explanation

Horace was an expert locksmith who made locks and ran a prosperous workshop, employing two assistants to help him manage his business.

Explanation

Horace had an expensive hobby: he was an ardent bibliophile who loved to collect rare and expensive books, using the proceeds of his annual burglaries to finance his private library.

Explanation

Horace was a methodical burglar who robbed only once every year. He calculated each robbery carefully to steal enough money to last twelve months and acquire the books he desired.

Explanation

To keep his identity and income source hidden, Horace bought his rare and expensive volumes secretly through an agent, having them delivered discreetly to his home.

Explanation

Horace chose Shotover Grange after studying its layout, electrical wiring, paths, and garden for two full weeks, waiting for the owners to travel to London.

Explanation

The safe contained about fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of jewels. Horace estimated that selling them piecemeal would yield around five thousand pounds, plenty to fund his purchases for another year.

Explanation

Horace knew the mansion was completely deserted because the family was residing in London and the two remaining servants had gone to the movies for the afternoon, giving him an estimated four hours of uninterrupted time.

Explanation

The woman who caught Horace was young, pretty, and dressed in red. Her calm, poised manner and familiarity with the household pet, Sherry, convinced Horace that she was the mistress of the house.

Explanation

She threatened Horace firmly: "If I call the police and tell them all about you, they will get you immediately." Terrified of returning to prison, Horace pleaded with her to let him walk away.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: Two days after the robbery, a police officer arrested Horace at his home for the Shotover Grange jewel robbery (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: In his eagerness to please the young woman, Horace took off his gloves to light her cigarette and forgot to put them back on, leaving his fingerprints all over the room and safe (True, and explains A).

Explanation

Horace was normally meticulous about wearing gloves to leave zero forensic evidence. However, after taking them off to light the lady's cigarette, he cracked the safe without wearing his gloves, leaving clear fingerprints behind.

Explanation

Because he handled the safe, dials, and lighter bare-handed, his fingerprints were found all over the room. Since his prints were already on record from his conviction fifteen years earlier, his arrest followed quickly.

Explanation

Horace took pride in stealing only from those who had plenty, believing in an unspoken code of ‘honour among thieves’. Being tricked and betrayed by a fellow practitioner of his craft shattered that belief completely.

Explanation

Both statements are factual: Horace was about fifty years old, unmarried, and lived quietly with a housekeeper. He staged only one carefully planned robbery per year to support his reading hobby.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is True: Horace spent two weeks studying Shotover Grange in detail before attempting the burglary.
• Statement 2 is False: He entered specifically because the owners were away in London and the servants had gone to the cinema.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is False: The actual mistress of the house was a sixty-year-old woman with gray hair, as revealed at the end of the story.
• Statement 2 is True: The young woman in red was herself a thief who used Horace to crack the safe and walked away with the loot without leaving a trace.

Explanation

Everything seemed aligned in his favor: the house was empty, the weather was bright, and he had his tools ready. He felt entirely confident that this year's operation would be just as smooth and successful as all his previous jobs.

Explanation

The woman claimed she had promised her husband to deposit the jewels in the bank, but wanted to wear them to dinner that night and had forgotten the combination numbers to unlock the safe.

Explanation

The text explicitly mentions that fifteen years ago, Horace had served his first and only prison sentence in a prison library, an experience that deepened his passion for rare books and left him determined never to return behind bars.

Explanation

To avoid arousing suspicion with authorities or jewel merchants, Horace planned to sell the stolen gems one by one, expecting to raise around five thousand pounds to comfortably fund his book purchases for the entire year.

Explanation

The woman who caught Horace was young and pretty, dressed stylishly in red. Her calm demeanor, pleasant voice, and ease around the household dog Sherry convinced Horace that she was the mistress of Shotover Grange.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: Horace promised to retrieve the jewels within an hour and easily opened the safe within that timeframe (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: Because he had lived with locks and safes all his life as a master locksmith, deciphering its mechanism presented little challenge (True, and explains A).

Explanation

• Statement 1 is True: Horace picked the safe and handed over the jewels within an hour.
• Statement 2 is False: She was a thief herself; after taking the gems from Horace, she slipped away with the loot long before the family returned.

Explanation

To everyone in his neighborhood and to his housekeeper, Horace was considered a good, respectable citizen of about fifty years old, who went about his lock-making trade without drawing any criminal suspicion.

Explanation

Having observed the servants leave for the cinema, Horace emerged from behind the foliage and climbed over the garden wall with his pack of tools strapped to his back, entering the house via the kitchen window.

Explanation

Both statements are true. Horace enjoyed good health overall, except for seasonal bouts of hay fever in summer, which caused sneezing fits when he encountered flowers inside the Grange drawing room.

Explanation

• a – 2 (Lady in red): An imposter and clever fellow thief who was young, pretty, and sharp.
• b – 1 (Actual owner's wife): Revealed later as a sixty-year-old, gray-haired, sharp-tongued woman who rubbished Horace's story as nonsense.

Explanation

When Horace insisted to the police that the lady of the house asked him to open the safe, the actual mistress stepped forward: a gray-haired, sharp-tongued woman of sixty who dismissed his claim as an outright lie.

Explanation

By noon on the third day, just as he began thinking of targeting another safe to replace his stolen funds, a policeman arrested him because his bare fingerprints had been identified on the safe and furniture at Shotover Grange.

Explanation

The story ends with Horace back in prison, serving as the assistant librarian. He frequently broods over the charming young thief who outwitted him, getting furious whenever anyone mentions "honour among thieves."

Explanation

When Horace entered the kitchen, a small dog stirred, made a noise, and wagged its tail. Horace calmed it down effortlessly by addressing it affectionately as Sherry, applying his belief that dogs are kept quiet simply by calling them by their real names and showing them love.

Explanation

The safe was built right into the drawing-room wall behind a rather poor painting. Horace even paused momentarily to wonder whether he should collect pictures instead of books, before concluding that paintings took up far too much room in a modest house.

Explanation

Although an alarm had been installed, Horace deemed it poorly planned. He walked out to the hall, traced where the connecting circuit ran, and cut the wires cleanly, disabling the system in a matter of minutes.

Explanation

There was a bowl of flowers on the table, and their pollen tickled his sensitive nose. As the scent drifted toward him, Horace felt a sudden irritation, buried his face in his handkerchief, and sneezed aloud—alerting the woman upstairs.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: Horace had access to detailed architectural information regarding the interior of the mansion (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: A popular magazine had written a descriptive feature story about Shotover Grange, complete with a plan of all the rooms and a note mentioning the safe behind the picture (True, and explains A).

Explanation

• a – 2 (Advice on hay fever): Spoken by the lady in red when she heard Horace sneezing into his handkerchief.
• b – 3 (Bargain to open safe): Spoken by the lady in red to manipulate Horace into cracking the safe.
• c – 1 (Justifying theft): Spoken by Horace Danby in an effort to explain his code of stealing only from the wealthy.

Explanation

When the lady took out a cigarette, Horace—eager to please her and win her sympathy—took off his gloves and held out his lighter. He then proceeded to unlock the safe bare-handed, leaving his fingerprints everywhere.

Explanation

Both statements are true. Horace robbed only rich homes once a year, harbored no violent tendencies, and feared prison intensely, which is why he readily agreed to open the safe in exchange for his freedom.

Explanation

The closing paragraph reveals that Horace became the assistant librarian in the prison, surrounded by the very books he loved, while bitterly reflecting on how a fellow thief had outsmarted him.

Explanation

‘A Question of Trust’ was written by the prolific British novelist and thriller writer Victor Canning (1911–1986), known for his ingenious plots, suspense, and ironic twists.

Explanation

The story's supreme irony lies in the clash of codes: Horace, who believed in professional honour among thieves and meticulously avoided sloppy mistakes, was outplayed, tricked, and framed by a fellow thief who walked off with the prize while he took the blame.