Footprints Without Feet Supplementary Reader Chapter 4 A Question Of Trust

Horace drops the idea of collecting pictures as they would occupy too much space. He discerned that collection of books was better for a small house like his'.

Horace believed so because he had worked with locks and safes throughout his life. In addition to that,the burglar alarm was poorly built. 

Horace was contempalting that people, who own valuable things tend to be foolish. The peolpe who lived in the house had let a magazine describe this house through an article that displayed a plan of all the rooms. Surprisingly, the writer had even mentioned that the painting hid a safe.  

The flowers hindered him in his work. On account of summers, the hay fever bothered him. He buried his face in his handkerchief to avoid the tickling sensation in the nose that led him to sneeze. 

Horace heard a voice say from the doorway that asked him whether it was cold or hay fever. 

Before Horace could be aware of the situation, it advised him that he could cure it with a special treatment. He could get rid of it if he could find out what plant gave him the disease. Then it suggested him that he should better see a doctor if he was serious about his work. It also said that he could be heard from the top of the house.

A woman, who was standing at the doorway was speaking to Horace. The woman was young, quite pretty, and was dressed in red.

The woman said that anyone would think she had been away for a month. Though she came back very soon, she didn't expect to meet a burglar.

Horace said that he would cut the telephone wires first so that she couldn't call the police.

Horace wanted to frighten the woman so that she couldn't think of calling the police. He said that he would cut the telephone wires first  and then he would make sure that the woman could do nothing for a few hours.

Horace suggested the woman that it would be nice on her part if she would forget that she ever saw him and let him go.

No, the woman didn't agree to Horace's suggestion. The woman questioned sharply that why would she do that. She said that he was going to rob her. She argued that if she let him go, he would rob somebody else. She suggested that the society must be protected from robbers like him.

To persuade the woman, Horace said that he wasn't one of those people who threaten society. He claimed that he stole only from those who had a lot of money and he stole for a very good reason. He also insisted that he hated the thought of prison. He said that he was desperate to be excused. He begged her to let him go and promised her that he would never do this kind of thing again. He affirmed that he really meant it.

The woman knew that Horace was afraid of prison. Seeing him begging, she said that she would allow him to go but only on one condition. The condition was that she wanted Horace to open the safe so that she could take out her jewellery. 

She told Horace that she was supposed to take her jewels to the bank but she left them here in the safe. She wanted to wear them to a party that night. So, she had come down to get them, but she couldn't because she had forgotten the numbers to open the safe. She wanted Horace to open the safe.  

The woman agreed to let Horacego on one condition. She asked him to open the safe because she had forgotten the numbers of the safe. She wanted to take out her jewellery. Horace could open the safe within an hour. He gave her the jewels and left the mansion happily.

Yes, the thief kept his promise to the young lady; but only for two days.

The police arrested horace for jewel robbery at Shot over Grange because the police was able to trace his fingerprints that were all over the room. Actually, he had opened the safe without gloves. 

After the police arrested Horace, he said that the wife of the owner of the house had asked him to open the safe for her. But, no one believed him beacuse the wife of the owner herself was a gray-haired and sharp-tongued woman of sixty. 
Soon, Horace realized that he was befooled because the woman whom he met that day was a thief herself. She had come to steal the jewels from the safe. 

Horace works as an Assistant librarian in prison. When anyone talks about ‘honour among thieves’, he gets angry.

A lady standing in the doorway is speaking to Horace Dancy. She appears to be the lady of the house.

The woman is dressed up as the lady of the house should. She appears to be confident. She pretends as if she has caught Horace robbing and threatens him that she will call the police. Horace doesn't suspect that something is wrong because he is too frightened at the thought of prison. He only focusses on the ways that may covince the woman to let him go.

Horace Danby was over confident about his success in his attempt of atealing the safe at Shot over Grange. He was so certain that this year’s robbery was going to be as successful as all the others that he missed on the important details. He failed to get enough information about real occupants of the house. 

No, Horace Danby wasn't unfairly punished. Though he had no bad intentions behind stealing, he wasn't aware that he was involved in something that was unlawful. He deserved what he got.