she is suspected of trickery.

In this same shop in Regent Street, of which I have been speaking, we
submitted to several petty annoyances of this description without
complaint, the last and pettiest of which was when Mrs. Jimmie, being
captivated by an exquisite hundred-guinea gown of pale gray, embroidered
in pink silk roses, and veiled with black Chantilly lace, bought it and
ordered it altered to her figure. For this they charged her two pounds
ten in addition to that frightful price for about an hour's work about
the collar. Mrs. Jimmie seldom resents anything, and in her gentleness
is easily governed, so this time I persuaded her to protest, and
dictated a furious letter of remonstrance to the proprietor, citing only
this one case of extortion. Jimmie sat by, smoking and encouraging me,
as I paced up and down the room with my hands behind my back, giving
vent to sentences which, when copied down in Mrs. Jimmie's ladylike
handwriting, made Jimmie scream with joy. I think Mrs. Jimmie never had
any intention of sending the letter, having written it down as a
safety-valve for my rather explosive nature, but Jimmie was so carried
away by the artistic incongruities of the situation that he whipped a
stamp on it and mailed it before his wife could wink.

To his delight, Mrs. Jimmie received, three days later, a letter from
the astonished proprietor, which showed in every line of it the jolt
that my letter must have been to his stolid British nerveless system. He
began by thanking her for having reported the matter to him, apologised
humbly, as a British tradesman always does apologise to the bloated
power of wealth, and said that her letter had been sent to all the
various heads of departments for their perusal. He declared that for
five years he had been endeavouring to bring the directors to see that,
if they were to possess the coveted American patronage for which they
always strove, they must accommodate themselves to certain American
prejudices, one of which was the unalterable distaste Americans
displayed in paying for refitting handsome gowns. He was delighted to
say that her letter had been couched in such firm, decisive, and
righteously indignant language, such as he himself never would have been
capable of commanding, had carried such weight, and had been productive
of such definite results with the directors that he was pleased to
announce that henceforward a radical change would appear in the
government of t