A Question of Trust
Horace Danby
Describe Horace Danby and his careful plan.
Two sayings. The story begins with two old sayings: 'You must set a thief to catch a thief' and 'There is honour among thieves'. Keep both in mind: which one does the story prove?
A respectable man. Everyone thinks Horace Danby is 'a good, honest citizen'. He is about fifty, unmarried, lives with a housekeeper, and is a successful lock-maker with two helpers. His only trouble is hay fever in summer.
His secret. Horace loves rare, expensive books. So once a year he robs a safe, steals enough for twelve months, and buys the books secretly through an agent. This year there are three interesting books coming up for sale in the autumn.
A careful plan. For two weeks he has studied Shotover Grange: its rooms, wiring, paths and garden.
- The family is in London, and the two servants have gone to the movies, so he has four hours.
- He wears gloves, never leaving fingerprints.
- He calls the dog by name, 'All right, Sherry', because 'all you had to do to keep dogs quiet was to call them by their right names, and show them love'.
- He cuts the wire of the poorly built burglar alarm.
- The safe is behind a painting. 'How foolish people are when they own valuable things': a magazine article had even said where the safe was!
The flowers. A big bowl of flowers sets off his hay fever. He sneezes and sneezes, and buries his face in his handkerchief. Then a voice says from the doorway: 'What is it? A cold or hay fever?'
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