I am sorry to hear that Aunt Anne had so much trouble with her late cook, to whom she had been, as every mistress is bound to be, very kind; but I am glad that she managed to get rid of her in the end. Under the circumstances, she would have been quite justified in discharging her without giving her a month's wages in lieu of notice.
A servant who refuses to do any work and locks herself in her room, refusing to come out, as this one did, may be summarily dismissed without being paid for services which she has not rendered.
Aunt Anne was fortunate in getting the policeman to come in and turn the woman out. A constable is not bound to enter a private dwelling in order to eject a noisy or troublesome domestic. On the contrary, the householder has to get the troublesome individual as far as the street door before the constable will interfere and take charge of him or her.
I hope that Aunt Anne will be more fortunate in her choice of a new cook.
It may seem rather hard that because you happen to have been given a silver mustard-pot with Gerald's crest upon it, that you should be obliged to pay a guinea a year for a licence to carry armorial bearings; but, strictly speaking, this is what you are bound to do if you keep the mustard-pot.
I happen to know of a case where a good lady was summoned before the magistrate for not having taken out this licence, where it was shown that all she had in the way of a crest or coat-of-arms was a hall chair, which she had recently purchased, with someone else's crest on it; but, in spite of this fact, she was fined and ordered to pay for the licence.
The occasional use of the services of the hall-porter at your flat will not render you liable to the duty for keeping a male servant.
What is the objection to purchasing a piano on the three years' hire system? Instead of parting with a large sum in one cash payment, which is very often an inconvenient thing to do, you pay, by half-a-dozen half-yearly instalments, or quarterly if you prefer it, with what you will probably be able to save out of your housekeeping money. It seems to me a very excellent way of acquiring an expensive article.
Your dressmaker cannot force you to pay for a dress which is so badly made that it is quite impossible for you to wear it. But then the question arises, Is it really so bad as you make out? Could it not be made to fit properly with a few alterations?
If you are positive that nothing can be done with it to make it wearable, I should advise you to refuse to take it in or to pay for it, in which case you may possibly have to appear in the County Court for the judge to decide whether it fits, or can be made to fit, or not.