Chapter 4: A Question of Trust

Important questions — the ones the board asked most (7)

1. Q1Long answer6 marksAsked: 2025

   Answer any one of the following two questions in 100 - 120 words : (a) How did the lady in red manage to outsmart and outmaneuver the other thief, Horace Danby, by robbing the safe without leaving a single fingerprint ? (A Question of Trust) OR (b) How did Mr. & Mrs. Loisel replace the lost necklace ? What kind of life did the Loisels lead thereafter ? (The Necklace)

   

   Medha Ma’am

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   Model answer · lady in red outsmarting Horace Danby

   1. 1.(a) The lady in red pretended to be the lady of the house and caught Horace Danby in the house at Shotover Grange as he was about to open the safe. OR (b) When the necklace could not be found, the Loisels bought an identical diamond necklace from a jeweller in the Palais Royal for 36,000 francs.1 mark
   2. 2.(a) She told him that she had forgotten the combination of the safe and needed her jewels for a party, and she played on his fear of the police. OR (b) Loisel used the 18,000 francs his father had left him and borrowed the rest from moneylenders, signing promissory notes at ruinous interest.1 mark
   3. 3.(a) Believing her, Horace opened the safe for her with his bare hands, without his gloves. OR (b) The new necklace was returned to Madame Forestier, who did not even open the case and never noticed the change.1 mark
   4. 4.(a) She took the jewels and went away without leaving any trace of her own; only Horace's fingerprints were left on the safe. OR (b) The Loisels dismissed their maid and moved into a cheap room in an attic.1 mark
   5. 5.(a) The police traced Horace through his fingerprints, and he was arrested and sent to prison for the theft. OR (b) Matilda did all the heavy housework herself, washing dishes and clothes, scrubbing floors and bargaining at the market, while Loisel did copying work at night.1 mark
   6. 6.(a) Thus the lady, a clever thief herself, exploited Horace's trust; the smart thief was outwitted and learnt that one cannot trust anyone. OR (b) After ten years of toil they repaid the debt, but Matilda had grown old and coarse, and then she learnt that the lost necklace was fake, worth at most 500 francs.1 mark

   Marks split from a structure derived from past papers (checked twice); not CBSE’s official scheme

2. Q2Long answer6 marksAsked: 2025

   11. Answer any one of the following two questions in 100 - 120 words : (a) What plan did Horace Danby make to rob the house at Shotover Grange? (A Question of Trust) OR (b) Were the sacrifices made by the Loisels in vain ? Justify your answer with reference to the text. (The Necklace)

   

   Medha Ma’am

   AskMedha’s AI teacher

   Hear it from Medha Ma’am · 105 s

   Model answer · Horace Danby's robbery plan

   1. 1.(a) Horace Danby planned the robbery at Shotover Grange in every detail, just as he carefully planned one safe robbery every year to buy the rare, expensive books he loved. A magazine article had described the house and given a plan of all the rooms. It even said that a painting in the drawing room hid a safe. For two weeks Horace studied the house, looking at its rooms, its electric wiring, its paths and its garden.3 marks
   2. 2.He knew for certain that the two servants, who stayed at the Grange while the family was in London, had gone to the movies that afternoon. He watched them leave, then came out from behind the garden wall with his tools carefully packed in a bag on his back. He had seen the housekeeper hang the key to the kitchen door on a hook outside. So he put on a pair of gloves so that he would leave no fingerprints, took the key and opened the door. He even knew the dog's name, so he called it "Sherry" and kept it quiet.2 marks
   3. 3.Once inside, he planned to cut the wire of the poorly built burglar alarm and open the safe within the four hours he had before the servants came back. The safe held about fifteen thousand pounds' worth of jewels. By selling them one by one, he hoped to get at least five thousand pounds, which was enough to buy three interesting books coming up for sale in the autumn.1 mark

   • Mention the magazine article that said "a painting in the drawing room hid a safe".
   • Write the two weeks of study: "its rooms, its electric wiring, its paths and its garden".
   • Include that he "put on a pair of gloves" and used the key from the hook to open the kitchen door.

   Marks split as in the board’s published marking scheme

3. Q3Long answer6 marksAsked: 2024

   Answer ANY ONE of the following two questions in 100-120 words : (i) How did the lady in red manage to outsmart and out maneuver the other thief, Horace Danby, by robbing the safe without leaving a single fingerprint ? (A Question of Trust) (ii) Hari Singh says – “He knew it but neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything.” Anil successfully addressed the situation by not addressing it at all. Elaborate based on your reading of The Thief's Story.

4. Q4Short answer3 marksAsked: 2026

   Why does Horace Danby consider himself an honest man despite being a thief ? How does this self-perception affect his decision in the story ? (A Question of Trust)

   How the model answer begins

   1. Horace Danby considers himself an honest man because he steals only from those who have a lot of money, and he believes he harms no one. He robs a safe only once a year, just to buy the rare, expensive books he loves.…

   The full answer from Medha Ma’am →
5. Q5Short answer3 marksAsked: 2026

   What was the passion of Horace Danby and how did he satisfy it ? (A Question of Trust)

   How the model answer begins

   1. Horace Danby's passion was collecting rare, expensive books, especially nineteenth-century books about locks and keys.

   The full answer from Medha Ma’am →
6. Q6Short answer3 marksAsked: 2024

   “Horace Danby is a thief who was cheated by another thief.” Justify. (A Question of Trust)

   How the model answer begins

   1. Horace Danby was a thief who was cheated by another thief. Every year he robbed a safe so that he could buy rare, expensive books. This year he planned to rob the safe at Shotover Grange. But a charming, clever young…

   The full answer from Medha Ma’am →
7. Q7Short answer3 marksAsked: 2023

   What does the phrase 'honour among thieves' mean ? Why does Horace get angry at this phrase ?

   How the model answer begins

   1. The phrase 'honour among thieves' means that even criminals are supposed to follow a code of conduct and have mutual trust among themselves, that is, thieves do not betray or cheat other thieves and remain loyal to one…

   The full answer from Medha Ma’am →

Questions parents and students ask

How many marks does "A Question of Trust" carry in CBSE Class 10 English?

In the CBSE papers of 2023–2026, this chapter carried about 1 marks and about 0 questions a year; by marks it ranks 23 in English.

Which are the most important (VVI) questions of "A Question of Trust"?

The 7 questions above are from the board’s real papers, each with the years it was asked; the most-asked come first with their full model answers. All 7 written questions of this chapter, with answers, are in the AskMedha app.

Do the answers follow the board’s marking scheme?

Yes. CBSE publishes its marking schemes; every model answer here is written point by point to the marks the board’s own scheme gives, and checked by a second, independent model.