04. A QUESTION OF TRUST
It is said that you must set a thief to catch a thief. But
it is also said that there is honour among thieves. Which saying does this
story illustrate?
READ AND FIND OUT
• What does Horace Danby like to collect?
• Why does he steal every year?
EVERYONE thought that Horace Danby was a good, honest
citizen. He was about fifty years old and unmarried, and he lived with a
housekeeper who worried over his health. In fact, he was usually very well and
happy except for attacks of hay fever in summer. He made locks and was
successful enough at his business to have two helpers. Yes, Horace
Danby
was good and respectable — but not completely honest.
Fifteen years ago, Horace had served his first and only
sentence in a prison library. He loved rare, expensive books. So he robbed a
safe every year. Each year he planned carefully just what he would do, stole
enough to last for twelve months, and secretly bought the books he loved
through an agent.
Now, walking in the bright July sunshine, he felt sure that
this year’s robbery was going to be as successful as all the others. For two
weeks he had been studying the house at Shotover Grange, looking at its rooms,
its electric wiring, its paths and its garden. This afternoon the two servants,
who remained in the Grange while the family was in London, had gone to the
movies. Horace saw them go, and he felt happy in spite of a little tickle of
hay fever in his nose. He came out from behind the garden wall, his tools
carefully packed in a bag on his back.
There were about fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of jewels in
the Grange safe. If he sold them one by one, he expected to get at least five
thousand, enough to make him happy for another year. There were three very
interesting books coming up for sale in the autumn. Now he would get the money
he wanted to buy them.
He
had seen the housekeeper hang the key to the kitchen door on a hook outside. He
put on a pair of gloves, took the key, and opened the door. He was always
careful not to leave any fingerprints.
A
small dog was lying in the kitchen. It stirred, made a noise, and moved its
tail in a friendly way.
“All right, Sherry,” Horace said as he passed. All you had
to do to keep dogs quiet was to call them by their right names, and show them
love.
The safe was in the drawing room, behind a rather poor
painting.
Horace
wondered for a moment whether he should collect pictures instead of books. But
they took up too much room. In a small house, books were better.
There was a great bowl of flowers on the table, and Horace
felt his nose tickle. He gave a little sneeze and then put down his bag. He
carefully arranged his tools. He had four hours before the servants returned.
The safe was not going to be hard to open. After all, he had
lived with locks and safes all his life. The burglar alarm was poorly built. He
went into the hall to cut its wire. He came back and sneezed loudly as the
smell of the flowers came to him again.
How foolish people are when they own valuable things, Horace
thought. A magazine article had described this house, giving a plan of all the
rooms and a picture of this room. The writer had even mentioned that the
painting hid a safe!
But Horace found that the flowers were hindering him in his
work. He buried his face in his handkerchief.
Then he heard a voice say from the doorway, “What is it? A
cold or hay fever?”
Before he could think, Horace said, “Hay fever,” and found
himself sneezing again.
The voice went on, “You can cure it with a special
treatment, you know, if you find out just what plant gives you the disease. I
think you’d better see a doctor, if you’re serious about your work. I heard you
from the top of the house just now.”
READ AND FIND OUT
• Who is speaking to Horace Danby?
• Who is the real culprit in the story?
It was a quiet, kindly voice, but one with firmness in it. A
woman was standing in the doorway, and Sherry was rubbing against her. She was
young, quite pretty, and was dressed in red. She walked to the fireplace and
straightened the ornaments there. “Down, Sherry,” she said. “Anyone would think
I’d been away for a month!” She smiled at Horace, and went on, “However, I came
back just in time, though I didn’t expect to meet a burglar.”
Horace had some hope because she seemed to be amused at
meeting him. He might avoid trouble if he treated her the right way. He
replied, “I didn’t expect to meet one of the family.”
She nodded. “I see what an inconvenience it is for you to
meet me.
What
are you going to do?”
Horace said, “My first thought was to run.”
“Of course, you could do that. But I would telephone the
police and tell them all about you. They’d get you at once.”
Horace said, “I would, of course, cut the telephone wires
first and then...,” he hesitated, a smile on his face, “I would make sure that
you could do nothing for some time. A few hours would be enough.”
She looked at him seriously. “You’d hurt me?”
Horace paused, and then said, “I think I was trying to
frighten you when I said that.”
“You didn’t frighten me.”
Horace suggested, “It would be nice if you would forget you
ever saw me. Let me go.”
The voice was suddenly sharp. “Why should I? You were going
to rob me. If I let you go, you’ll only rob someone else. Society must be
protected from men like you.”
Horace smiled. “I’m not a man who threatens society. I steal
only from those who have a lot of money. I steal for a very good reason. And
I
hate the thought of prison.”
She laughed, and he begged, thinking that he had persuaded
her,
“Look,
I have no right to ask you for anything, but I’m desperate. Let me go and I
promise never to do this kind of thing again. I really mean it.”
She was silent, watching him closely. Then she said, “You
are really afraid of going to prison, aren’t you?”
She came over to him shaking her head. “I have always liked
the wrong kind of people.”
She picked up a silver box from the table and took a
cigarette from it. Horace, eager to please her and seeing that she might help
him, took off his gloves and gave her his cigarette lighter.
“You’ll let me go?” He held the lighter towards her.
“Yes, but only if you’ll do something for me.”
“Anything you say.”
“Before we left for London, I promised my husband to take my
jewels to our bank; but I left them here in the safe. I want to wear them to a
party tonight, so I came down to get them, but…”
Horace smiled. “You’ve forgotten the numbers to open the
safe, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” replied the young lady.
“Just leave it to me and you’ll have them within an hour.
But I’ll have to break your safe.”
“Don’t worry about that. My husband won’t be here for a
month, and I’ll have the safe mended by that time.”
And within an hour Horace had opened the safe, given her the
jewels, and gone happily away.
For two days he kept his promise to the kind young lady. On
the morning of the third day, however, he thought of the books he wanted and he
knew he would have to look for another safe. But he never got the chance to
begin his plan. By noon a policeman had arrested him for the jewel robbery at
Shotover Grange.
His fingerprints, for he had opened the safe without gloves,
were all over the room, and no one believed him when he said that the wife of
the owner of the house had asked him to open the safe for her. The wife
herself, a gray-haired, sharp-tongued woman of sixty, said that the story was
nonsense.
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’.
VICTOR
CANNING
|
Q. 1. What does Horace Danby
like to collect? Ans. Horace Danby liked to collect rare and
expensive books.
Ans. He stole every year so that he could buy the
rare and expensive books that he loved to collect. Each year, he planned
carefully, stole enough to last twelve months, and secretly bought the books,
through an agent.
Ans. A lady standing in the doorway was speaking
to Horace Danby. She was young and pretty, and was dressed in red. She said
she had come just in time, or else her family would have been robbed by
Horace. She, thus, pretended to be one of the members of the family living at
Shotover Grange.
Ans. The real culprit was the woman who pretended
to be a member of the family living at Shotover Grange. She tricked Horace
into believing her, and cleverly took away all the jewels that were kept in
the safe.
Ans. Yes, one does begin to suspect before the end
of the story that the lady was not the person Horace Danby took her to be.
She was unusually calm on seeing Horace. This seemed strange enough. When she
did not call the police, and instead asked Horace to take out all the jewels from
the safe, even if it meant breaking it open, it seemed suspicious. Moreover,
it also seemed unlikely that she would forget the numbers to open the safe.
Therefore, it was evident, before the story ended, that the lady was not the
person Horace had taken her to be.
Ans. Her confident walk, her act of touching up
her make-up and the ease with which she picks cigarette from the right place
are enough to deceive anybody. Horace was too frightened to think properly so
he didn’t suspect anything.
Ans. “Horace Danby was good and respectable − but
not completely honest”. This description is apt for Horace. He was about
fifty years old. He robbed only from rich people, and his purpose was to buy
rare and expensive books with the money. He stole only once a year. The
intention of buying books was good. However, the fact that he stole to
achieve this end showed that he was not completely honest. He cannot be
categorized as a typical thief because he did not steal to eat or drink. He
had a house. He made locks, had two people to help him, and was successful in
his business. He only stole enough money to buy the books. For a couple of
days, he even kept his promise to the lady he met at Shotover Grange by not
stealing or planning any robbery.
Ans. Horace Danby failed to get enough information
about real occupants of the house. He seems to be too occupied with
collecting information about house map, wiring and location of valuable
things. Although he was smart enough to know the dog’s actual name but
overlooked getting identity of each and every occupants of the house. Once he
was in problem then probably his clever mind gave way to carelessness leading
him to open the safe without wearing gloves.
Ans. He deserved what he got. A crime is a crime
no matter if it is committed a hundred times or just once.
Ans. “Ends do not justify means”, this is a very
old and time tested saying. For own benefit nobody should harm others. But
this world doesn’t function on idealism. There are many examples of people
duping people for quick gains. These acts should be deplored and dealt with
severely.
|
GLOSSARY
hay
fever: a disorder affecting the nose and throat, caused by allergy
to
pollen or dust
Think
about it
1.
Did you begin to suspect, before the end of the story, that the lady was not
the person Horace Danby took her to be? If so, at what point did you realise
this, and how?
2.
What are the subtle ways in which the lady manages to deceive Horace Danby into
thinking she is the lady of the house? Why doesn’t Horace suspect that
something is wrong?
3.
“Horace Danby was good and respectable — but not completely honest”. Why do you
think this description is apt for Horace? Why can’t he be categorised as a
typical thief?
4.
Horace Danby was a meticulous planner but still he faltered. Where did he go
wrong and why?
Talk
about it
1.
Do you think Horace Danby was unfairly punished, or that he deserved what he
got?
2.
Do intentions justify actions? Would you, like Horace Danby, do something wrong
if you thought your ends justified the means? Do you think that there are
situations in which it is excusable to act less than honestly?
Suggested reading
•
‘The Unexpected’ by Ella Edkin
•
‘The Confession’ by Anton Chekhov
•
‘A Case for the Defence’ by Graham Greene
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