CLASS 10 ENGLISH · FOOTPRINTS WITHOUT FEET · CHAPTER 4 · STUDY NOTES
A Question of Trust
Understand the chapter through clear explanations, selected details, contextual vocabulary and original practice. Hinglish supports understanding; exam models remain in English.
01 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Respectable is not the same as honest
Victor Canning introduces a successful lock-maker who secretly steals to buy rare books.
Public appearance versus concealed conduct
Choose a detail and follow the explanation.
Social respectability shapes the opening expectation.
1. Two sides of the portrait
Horace is about fifty, has a business and appears respectable. An annual robbery supplies money for his expensive hobby.
2. His own excuse
He claims a good reason and targets wealth. Desire for books explains the motive; it does not make the dishonesty disappear.
A little deeper: Keep intention and judgement separate
A love of books does not prove that any method of obtaining them is acceptable. The narrative exposes his self-justification.
Your turn
Question
Why does the opening contrast matter?
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02 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Preparation cannot remove a blind spot
Horace studies Shotover Grange carefully, but an unexpected encounter changes the situation.
Known arrangement versus unexpected person
Choose a detail and follow the explanation.
Planning covers what he anticipates.
1. Confidence from planning
He watches the household and expects a predictable absence. His knowledge of locks makes him confident about the planned theft.
2. A person changes the problem
Flowers trigger sneezing, and a woman addresses him. He is now managing fear of discovery, not only a technical task.
A little deeper: Technical skill and trust
The plot’s focus is the limit of his judgement. A summary should not become a how-to guide for breaking into a house.
Your turn
Question
How does the interruption change his priority?
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03 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Familiar behaviour creates false authority
The woman acts at ease in the house and uses Horace’s fear of prison to control the exchange.
Look at a convincing performance
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Visible confidence versus verified identity
Choose a detail and follow the explanation.
The behaviour makes the role plausible.
1. Signals of belonging
She speaks to Sherry, handles ornaments and refers to a husband. These signs fit the identity Horace wants to believe.
2. Conditional mercy
She offers not to expose him if he retrieves the jewels for her. He treats apparent permission as a way out of danger.
A little deeper: The story’s subtle deception
No single gesture proves ownership. The combination is persuasive because it matches his fear and hope.
Your turn
Question
Why does he accept her story so readily?
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04 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Relief makes him abandon caution
Eager to please, Horace removes his gloves. Later fingerprints connect him with the robbery.
Assumed permission → lost caution → evidence
Choose a detail and follow the explanation.
The permission rests on a false identity.
1. A misplaced sense of safety
He believes the woman has authorised the action. His ordinary caution no longer seems necessary to him.
2. The reversal
Police arrest him. The actual owner is an older woman who denies his account; he realises the young woman was another thief.
A little deeper: Not an innocent authorised helper
Horace had already intended theft. Being deceived explains the outcome but does not erase his initial wrongdoing.
Your turn
Question
What links the false trust to his arrest?
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05 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
The title questions what trust rests on
In prison Horace resents the phrase honour among thieves. Another thief exploited his willingness to trust.
His expectation versus her purpose
Choose a detail and follow the explanation.
He thinks his help will end the danger.
1. The irony
An experienced thief becomes a victim of deception. He is angry at dishonesty within his own dishonest activity.
2. The unresolved woman
The young woman’s real name and later fate are not given. The ending concentrates on Horace’s knowledge and situation.
A little deeper: Avoid invented punishment
Do not add the woman’s later arrest or a recovered necklace. Those events are not in this story.
Your turn
Question
How does his anger reinforce the irony?
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06 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Grammar transfer: conditions and reporting
Original examples separate a conditional promise from a direct fact.
Read → choose → explain
Try a form, then read why it fits the context.
Meaning helps you rule out a form that changes the message.
1. Condition and result
An if clause states a condition. Its result depends on that condition being met.
2. Reported request
Asked someone to do something reports a request. It should not preserve question order as if directly addressed.
A little deeper: Form and truth differ
A conditional sentence can be grammatical while its promise is deceptive. Explain who makes the claim.
Your turn
Question
Why is a promise not itself proof of permission?
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07 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Vocabulary: meaning, context and use
Learn what a word does in a sentence, not only its translation.
Words inside the scene
Choose a word to see its meaning and an original example.
respectable
Regarded as proper or socially acceptable.
Our exampleThe character had a respectable public image.
1. Read around the word
An action, feeling or setting gives a clue to meaning. Check the whole sentence before choosing a synonym.
2. Use it accurately
Try an original sentence that keeps the meaning and word class. Do not replace every word with a longer one.
A little deeper: Meaning before ornament
Clear language communicates a precise idea. Vocabulary should strengthen your explanation, not hide it.
Your turn
Question
Choose one word and use it in a new sentence. Explain why it fits.
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08 / EXPLORE & UNDERSTAND
Explain the trap, not just the twist
Link the woman’s performance, Horace’s fear and his changed caution.
Performance → belief → consequence
Choose a detail and follow the explanation.
Several signals make the role believable.
1. The cause
Credible gestures and a promise exploit his fear of prison. This explains the mistaken trust.
2. The outcome
Lost caution leaves evidence. The real owner’s identity exposes the deception and produces the final irony.
A little deeper: Balanced judgement
A careful answer can recognise that he is deceived and also responsible for intending theft. These are compatible claims.
Your turn
Question
Why is “he forgot gloves” an incomplete explanation?
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Sign inNew here? Sign up freeCHAPTER RECAP
Take these ideas with you
- Public respectability hides intended theft.
- The young woman performs ownership rather than proves it.
- Fear and hope make Horace trust a convenient claim.
- Lost caution leaves fingerprints; the actual owner contradicts him.
- The ending challenges his expectation of honour among thieves.
Use your understanding in a new situation
Question
Choose one claim about the chapter. What precise detail supports it?
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