Lucia is renting 'Mallards' from Mapp whilst she finds a place of her own and instantly angers Mapp when she and Georgie inform Mapp that her priceless Blumenfeld piano is little more than a hurdy-gurdy and banished from the drawing room. Mapp does manage to beat Lucia on one count as Lucia is paying Mapp's gardener to tend the grounds of Mallards but he neglects her flower beds to nurture Mapp's vegetables,which she sells in the town.