you can't allways get what you want

In both Magic and Theft there is an introverted idea of what is just. In Theft it is the Janitress who accuses "She" of stealing from her niece, even though the purse was her own property, and then we have "She" who then feels like she has been robbed blind in the end, not of property, but robbed of the life she wanted to lead, and the things she could have accomplished, she feels robbed of opportunity in a since, although she is obviously better off than the Janitress. Porter is perhaps exploring what it means to own something, and what we really have the right to call ours and what we do not.
Ownership is also explored in Magic with Madame Blanchard and Ninett's relationship. Ninett is basically enslaved, comes back due to the curse and is "happy to be there" it seems so out of place because Blanchard has not right to own Ninett, and the justification for her staying at the brothel makes no sense to me. So the story leaves me with the question, "what is so magical about being forced to return to a brothel, where you get beaten?"