Alice, a young woman who was 17 years of age, saw an advertisement by Silver Flatware Ltd. in a magazine that offered a 24-piece set of silver flatware for sale on the following terms: "$100 payable with order, and monthly payments of $50 each, payable over a three-year term."

The advertisement was accompanied by a coupon setting out the terms of payment and requiring the purchaser to provide his or her name and address and signature in the space provided.

Alice completed the coupon and mailed it, together with a cheque for $100, to the company. A few weeks later, the 24-piece set of silverware arrived by post.

Alice made a number of payments according to the terms of the agreement, then decided that she did not wish to continue with the agreement. A week before her eighteenth birthday, she wrote to the seller and repudiated the contract, but did not offer to return the silverware because she had lost several of the teaspoons.

The company and Alice then engaged in a protracted round of correspondence in which the company demanded a return of the silverware and the retention of all money paid as the price of her release from the agreement. Alice refused to return the silverware. She maintained that she was entitled to a return of the payments as she was a minor at the time she entered into the agreement.

The company, some 10 months later, brought an action against Alice for the balance of the purchase price.

Discuss the defenses (if any) that Alice might raise in this case and render a decision.