A Question of Trust by Victor Canning
Quick answer: A Question of Trust by Victor Canning, Class 10 Footprints Without Feet: summary with the ending, Horace Danby and the woman in red, the twist, themes and exam answers.
A locksmith who robs one safe a year for rare books is caught mid-burglary by a young woman who claims to be the lady of the house, and she asks him to open the safe for her. Victor Canning's A Question of Trust is fourth in Class 10 Footprints Without Feet.
The story in brief
Horace Danby is about fifty, unmarried, a good lock maker with hay fever. After one prison term he allows himself a single robbery a year for the rare books he loves. He has studied Shotover Grange for two weeks: family in London, servants at the cinema, key on a hook, safe behind a painting. He gets in, quiets the dog Sherry, cuts the alarm, puts on gloves, and sneezes at the flowers.
A voice from the doorway says she did not know he was allergic. A young woman in red stands there, calm and friendly, and Horace takes her for the owner's wife. She agrees not to call the police if he opens the safe, since she has forgotten the combination. He does so without gloves and she leaves with the jewels. Two days later he is arrested on his fingerprints; the real owner's wife is sixty. He is now assistant librarian in prison, brooding on honour among thieves.
The characters
Themes and meaning
Exams ask about appearance against reality, respectability against honesty, and the irony of a thief robbed. The sharper observation is in the title. Horace lives by trusting information, and he extends that trust to a stranger because she speaks like the owner. A man who lives by predicting people is the man a good actor can predict.
The craft
The turn is the sneeze, since the hay fever lets the woman announce herself with sympathy rather than a scream. The gloves are the fair-play clue: Horace removes them at her request, so the fingerprints are visible to the reader before the police find them. A twist the reader can predict and still enjoy is what the Storytelling and Structure criteria in Writory's short story contest reward.
For the exam
Summary in 100 words: Horace Danby, a respectable locksmith of fifty, commits one robbery a year to fund his collection of rare books. Having studied Shotover Grange for two weeks, he breaks in while the family is away, calms the dog and cuts the alarm. A young woman in red appears and he assumes she is the owner's wife. She agrees not to call the police if he opens the safe, claiming she has forgotten the combination. He obliges without gloves and she departs with the jewels. Days later he is arrested, his fingerprints on the safe. The woman was the real thief.
What writers can take from this
- Note the two weeks of preparation and the single yearly robbery; both establish Horace's method.
- Cite the gloves as the clue that makes the arrest fair.
- Explain why the police disbelieve him: the real wife is sixty.
- Writers: let your protagonist remove their own protection on stage, so the twist is visible in hindsight.
- Give the antagonist the protagonist's own strength, here planning, in greater measure.
Try it yourself
Write a crime story in which a careful professional is undone by someone who uses their own method against them, and make sure the reader watches the fatal mistake happen before the character understands it.
Questions
Who was the young lady in red in A Question of Trust?
She was a thief who pretended to be the owner's wife at Shotover Grange. She persuaded Horace Danby to open the safe for her and escaped with the jewels, leaving him to be arrested.
Why did Horace Danby rob only once a year?
He loved rare and expensive books and could not afford them honestly. One carefully planned robbery each year gave him enough money to buy them through an agent, while he kept his respectable trade.
What is the irony in A Question of Trust?
Horace, a thief who trusted a stranger because she seemed respectable, is robbed and imprisoned by her. He ends up complaining about dishonour among thieves.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
Enter a Writory story contest
Enter the Writory Short Story Contest and have your own story read and scored out of 100. Entries close 25 November. That first entry makes you a Writorian.