CBSE Class 10 · English · board exam 2027
Chapter 4: A Question of Trust — notes
The chapter’s 5 parts in the book’s order — the first idea of each and the points Medha Ma’am writes on the board — and the summary at the end. The full lesson and a check question for each part are in the app.
1. Horace Danby: a good, honest citizen who is not completely honest
Okay, so let's meet Horace Danby.
- • Horace Danby - about 50, unmarried
- • Lived with a housekeeper, suffered hay fever in summer
- • Lock-maker, successful business, two helpers
- • Loved rare, expensive books
- • Robbed a safe every year to buy books
- • Good and respectable - but not completely honest
2. Careful planning at Shotover Grange
Horace never acted on impulse; he always studied his target thoroughly before a robbery.
- • Studied Shotover Grange for two weeks
- • Rooms, wiring, paths, garden noted
- • Waited till servants left for the movies
- • Took key with gloves on - no fingerprints
- • Calmed dog Sherry by name and kindness
- • Safe hidden behind a poor painting
3. The hay fever that gives him away
Even the most careful planner can be undone by something small, and for Horace it was a great bowl of flowers on the table in the drawing room.
- • Bowl of flowers tickled his nose
- • He sneezed while working on the safe
- • Cut burglar alarm wire, sneezed again
- • Voice asked: 'A cold or hay fever?'
- • Horace admitted: 'Hay fever'
- • His hay fever first revealed his presence
4. The woman in red and her bargain
Okay, so look at the board.
- • Young woman in red appears with Sherry
- • She seems amused, not frightened
- • Horace threatens, then says he was 'trying to frighten'
- • She agrees to let him go for a favour
- • Her story: forgotten safe numbers, needs jewels for a party
- • Horace opens safe without gloves, gives her jewels
5. The real thief and Horace's arrest
Okay, so Horace kept his promise, for two whole days.
- • Day 3: Horace plans his next safe
- • Arrested by noon for the Shotover Grange jewel robbery
- • His fingerprints (no gloves) all over the room
- • Real wife: gray-haired, sharp-tongued, aged sixty
- • Young lady in red was not the real wife - the real thief
- • Horace now assistant librarian in prison
Summary
Okay, so let's recall the whole story. Horace Danby looked like a good, respectable lock-maker. But secretly, he robbed a safe every year, just to buy the rare books he loved. He studied Shotover Grange for two weeks, carefully. He calmed the dog, Sherry. He got the key without leaving fingerprints. But a bowl of flowers set off his hay fever — and that gave him away. Then a young woman in red appeared. She seemed amused, not afraid. She bargained with him — she'd let him go only if he opened the safe for her, since she claimed she'd forgotten the numbers. Horace trusted her. He opened the safe without gloves, handed over the jewels, and left, feeling happy. Days later, he was arrested — his fingerprints were found, and the real wife, a gray-haired woman of sixty, denied his whole story. In the end, Horace realises the young lady was herself a thief, who tricked him. That's why he dislikes the phrase 'honour among thieves'. Tell me — why do you think he feels that phrase doesn't suit her?
AskMedha · Medha Ma’am — CBSE Class 10 English, Chapter 4. Written from the textbook, checked twice.
Questions parents and students ask
- How do I get the "A Question of Trust" notes as a PDF?
- Press "Save as PDF" — the phone’s print sheet opens; choose "Save as PDF" there. The PDF holds the notes only.
- Where are these notes written from?
- From the chapter’s own textbook text, part by part, in the book’s own terms; a second, independent model then checked every part against the book. The full lesson, a check question for each part and the practice are in the AskMedha app.
The same preparation, with Medha Ma’am — on your phone
Every question of every chapter with its model answer, practice questions in the board’s own shapes, 60 minutes of class a day, written answers marked, a test every Sunday and a WhatsApp report to parents.
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