What Maisie Knew guide

Summary

Characters

• IdaAlso FarangeGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• ModdleGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• MaisieAlso FarangeLeadFrom Chapter 1
• BealeAlso FarangeGuardianFrom Chapter 2
• OvermoreAlso BealeGuardianFrom Chapter 2
• WixGuardianFrom Chapter 4
• Clara MatildaOtherFrom Chapter 4
• ClaudeGuardianFrom Chapter 7
• SusanAlso AshHelperFrom Chapter 8
• PerriamOtherFrom Chapter 11
• CaptainSuitorFrom Chapter 15
• Mrs. CuddonOtherFrom Chapter 18
• CountessSuitorFrom Chapter 18

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• Beale and Ida disparage one another, with Maisie exposed to their hostility and used to carry Beale's insult to Ida; Beale also destroys Ida's letters to Maisie.

  • Both parents continue conveying hostility through Maisie, and Ida explicitly commissions another insult. Maisie recognizes the mechanism and resolves to obstruct it by concealing her understanding; her parents mistake her resistance for stupidity.
  • The prediction that each parent will try to burden the other with Maisie provokes Ida's concern about appearing unfond and her determination to keep antagonizing Beale.
  • The struggle over Maisie's residence continues; Maisie suspects Ida is using her prolonged stay to torment Beale, and Overmore draws her into further disparagement of Ida.
  • Maisie tries to redirect Beale's attention toward Ida but finds his former anger apparently replaced by indifference, which she welcomes as protection for her stepparents.

• Beale makes Maisie feel indebted to his supposed sacrifices and responsible for responding adequately to his displays of devotion, enlisting Moddle to reinforce his suffering.

  • Maisie now reads Beale's tenderness as a demand that she relieve him of responsibility while bearing the blame; his threat of permanent separation nevertheless makes her refuse to relinquish him.

• Moddle comforts Maisie about the impending transfer to Ida, giving her a written list of anticipated pleasures to carry with her.

  • Maisie's memories of Moddle and nursery life fade, weakening the remembered connection to her earlier source of comfort.

• Moddle openly rebukes Beale's conduct, breaking deference to him and provoking his threat to deal with her.

• Maisie resolves to conceal her understanding and stop relaying parental insults, taking pleasure in frustrating her parents despite their judgement that she is stupid.

  • Maisie's resolve to conceal her understanding has become an established practice of keeping her thoughts to herself.
  • Maisie uses her established pretence of stupidity to protect Claude's conversation with Overmore from Ida and takes comfort in having helped him.
  • Maisie extends her practice of concealing understanding to Claude, withholds the Captain's disclosures and feels successful despite Claude's displeasure.

• Maisie confides in Overmore about Ida's message and grows closer to her, interpreting her conduct as protection and help in saving her.

  • Threatened separation and Overmore's account of choosing to stay deepen Maisie's passionate attachment; Overmore also offers her a possible means of remaining together.
  • Maisie rejoins Overmore, who conditionally proposes taking her away to live together.
  • Overmore's assurances and repeated affection reinforce Maisie's trust in her and her sense of safety in the household.
  • Maisie's first disagreement with Overmore troubles her, and their embrace renews her happiness, but she nevertheless chooses to leave for Ida's.
  • Maisie accepts Ida as the reason for Mrs. Beale's silence and actively seeks to defend Mrs. Beale.
  • Maisie's affectionate confidence in Mrs. Beale revives, reinforced by her belief that Mrs. Beale can manage the adults' complications.

• At Overmore's request, Maisie agrees to conceal their Park encounter with Beale from Ida.

• Beale appeals to Overmore to help save Maisie; Maisie understands the Park encounter as serving that purpose.

  • Overmore joins Beale's household and receives permission to stay as Maisie's governess, giving practical effect to the requested help without establishing that Maisie has been saved.

• Ida resolves to make Beale feel her displeasure and continue annoying him.

  • Ida leaves abroad indefinitely without reclaiming Maisie; Maisie suspects this prolongation is a new means of annoying Beale, though Ida's motive remains unconfirmed.

• Ida forbids Overmore to return if she enters Beale's service; Overmore joins his household despite the threat, and Ida responds with an insulting letter.

• Overmore commits to remaining with Maisie as her governess in Beale's household and secures Beale's permission.

  • Overmore is present for Maisie's return to Beale's household, continuing their arrangement, but now makes her continued service conditional on Beale retracting his assertion.
  • Overmore protects her exclusive position by rejecting another governess and explains Maisie's continuing usefulness to the household arrangement.
  • Marriage gives Overmore an independent position as Beale's wife and ends her employment as Maisie's governess.

• Beale welcomes Overmore as Maisie's governess and likes her, as Maisie learns and believes her own observations confirm.

  • Beale's affectionate address further establishes his familiarity with Overmore, while her demands and threats reveal friction within that relationship.
  • The visitor's account of Overmore excluding other women and Overmore's explanation of Maisie's legitimating role further disclose the closeness of Beale and Overmore's arrangement.
  • Beale insists that Overmore accompany him to Brighton, and their attachment culminates in marriage.

• Overmore suggests that Maisie could remain permanently with Beale by expressing a strong preference, offering a possible way to avoid separation from Overmore.

  • Maisie returns to Ida's household and is placed with Wix, preventing the proposed permanent stay with Beale and continued companionship with Overmore for now.
  • Ida's apparent reluctance to reclaim Maisie and indefinite departure extend her stay with Beale and Overmore, making continued residence more plausible without establishing permanence or implementing the proposed declaration of preference.
  • Maisie chooses her turn with Ida and eagerly accepts immediate departure instead of expressing a preference to remain with Beale and Overmore.

• Mrs. Wix becomes Maisie's governess and trusted caregiver; shared tenderness and Wix's accounts of her life lead Maisie to regard her as a safer, unfailing support than her parents or Overmore.

  • Wix's sympathy during the extraction and their mutual distress at parting deepen the attachment despite their separation.
  • Maisie's longing and their affectionate correspondence sustain the attachment, but Overmore discredits Wix and cuts off communication; Maisie preserves private comfort in imagining Wix still waiting.
  • Wix renews contact despite the apparent veto, yields Claude's photograph to Maisie, and announces an engagement to resume her care.
  • Wix resumes Maisie's care, shapes her understanding of her education and Ida's behaviour, and shares increasingly intimate feelings and interpretations with her.
  • Wix receives Maisie after Ida rejects her, urges their joint resistance and helps her understand the marriage, although her defense of Claude provides incomplete consolation.
  • Maisie recognizes Wix's personal insecurity, shares previously concealed fears with her, and develops stronger solidarity and unprecedented admiration for her.
  • Wix's harsh moral demands unsettle Maisie's trust; Maisie's accusation about Wix's own paid dependence provokes Wix's departure and leaves Maisie sobbing.
  • Renewed closeness develops into frank discussion and an intimate alliance; Maisie increasingly acknowledges Wix's authority.
  • Maisie's intimate attachment to Wix and concern for her displacement make separation consequential, and she insists on seeing Wix before deciding.
  • Maisie chooses Mrs. Wix, leaves with her and shares her final observation of Claude; Wix's wonder at Maisie's understanding is renewed.

• Maisie accepts Wix's dead daughter Clara Matilda as a symbolic sister and shares Wix's devotion to her memory.

• Maisie is bound to conceal her symbolic sisterhood with Clara Matilda, especially from Ida.

• Overmore contests Beale's assertion and demands its retraction, threatening either to take Maisie away with her or to abandon the household and her responsibilities.

• Overmore asks Maisie to disregard Beale's jokes and accept trust without explanation; Maisie remains bewildered but adopts this demand in her play with Lisette.

• Maisie avoids questioning adults about their mysteries and uses play with Lisette to explore and imitate their withholding of explanations, though imitating Ida makes her ashamed.

  • Maisie discovers that patient silence and attentive looks can elicit disclosures that direct questions fail to obtain.

• Maisie's education is neglected, while Overmore rejects a second governess because another woman's presence would expose the ambiguity of her position.

  • Marriage settles the ambiguity of Overmore's household position, and she reopens the school option, but Maisie's educational neglect is not shown to be remedied.
  • Overmore ceases to be the governess, rejects Wix, and no school placement follows, intensifying Maisie's sense of being untutored and unclaimed.
  • Wix undertakes remedial instruction, Maisie believes she is now learning, and Claude supplies a history book; the claimed deficiencies remain Wix's assessment.
  • The adults make concrete promises to expand Maisie's education, though instruction has not yet begun.

• Beale repeatedly proposes sending Maisie to boarding school, although doing so would undermine his legal grounds for withholding her from Ida.

  • Overmore now accepts the possibility of school and says the previous objection has been removed; no placement is yet reported.
  • Overmore drops her opposition to school, but Beale's financial objections cause the Brighton school prospect to lapse.

• Maisie comes to understand her presence as making Beale and Overmore's arrangement socially proper and finds security in being useful to them.

  • Overmore's marriage and acceptance of school undermine Maisie's security in being needed to make the household proper; Maisie now anticipates parental avoidance.
  • Maisie understands that the marriage removes the need for her presence to make Beale and Overmore's arrangement proper, ending this basis of her security.

• Maisie tries to discover whether Beale regards keeping her as a burden, but Overmore evades her inquiry.

  • Overmore reports Beale's complaint that wife and daughter cost too much, giving Maisie indirect evidence that he regards her as an expense.

• Maisie proposes making Ida's companion her tutor so that his presence would make Ida's arrangement proper; Overmore rejects the analogy.

• Overmore opposes Maisie's attachment to Wix, claims jealousy, discredits Wix as an educator and ends their correspondence.

  • Wix challenges the exclusion through her visit and renewed employment claim. Their rivalry extends to Claude's photograph, which Overmore takes and conceals, and culminates in Overmore asserting maternal authority before Wix leaves.
  • Overmore rejects Maisie's proposal to employ Wix and renews her attacks on Wix's suitability, adding that she would serve Ida's interests.

• Ida and Claude commit to marrying, making Claude Maisie's prospective stepfather.

  • Claude and Ida have married.

• Maisie begins to anticipate that her parents will compete to avoid receiving her.

  • Beale's reported financial complaints and refusal to collect Maisie, together with Claude's account of Ida accepting her for appearances, deepen Maisie's fear of being unwanted.
  • Ida explicitly transfers responsibility for Maisie to Claude and physically rejects her; Maisie subsequently interprets Claude's departure as resistance to having her imposed on him, without confirmation of his motive.
  • Ida's demands to know why Beale has not sent for Maisie make the anticipated crisis of having nowhere to go appear immediate.
  • Maisie persistently maintains that Ida will refuse to have her, despite the Captain's invitation and assurances.
  • Maisie suspects that Beale wants her to choose separation and recognises that his departure may be permanent.

• Maisie develops admiration and attraction toward Claude through his photograph and seeks to possess it.

  • Maisie recovers Claude's photograph and then meets him; his welcome and apparent personal concern turn admiration of his portrait into immediate attachment.
  • Maisie's admiration develops through Claude's companionship, gifts and courtesy; she judges him exceptionally gentlemanly and affirms her attachment.

• Wix invests hope for her own future in Claude, judging his promise from his portrait.

  • Wix's hopes acquire tangible support through improved standing, Claude's gifts and public courtesy, while she trusts him to prevent separation from Maisie and declares her love.

• Ida engages Wix to resume Maisie's care when they return.

  • Wix joins Maisie at Ida's house and resumes her instruction.

• Beale and Overmore marry, and Overmore claims the maternal authority of Maisie's stepmother.

  • Overmore requires the name Mrs. Beale, acquires the household standing of a wife, and asserts continuing rights in Maisie.
  • Confidence, shared studies and outings deepen Maisie's attachment to Mrs. Beale and produce exceptional harmony between them.
  • Mrs. Beale unexpectedly appears and declares herself free, but the tie or constraint she claims to have escaped is unspecified, so the status of her marriage remains unconfirmed.
  • Mrs. Beale publicly claims Maisie as her daughter, and Mrs. Wix confronts the implications of her maternal authority.

• Maisie seeks to have Wix employed as her governess in Beale's household, but Overmore rejects her.

• Maisie turns to Susan's companionship while keeping her distance from the adults' drawing-room company.

  • Maisie's access to Susan's attic extends her connection with Susan.
  • Susan attends to Maisie, confides her grievances and accompanies her departure with Claude.

• Claude and Overmore acknowledge a connection through Maisie, who welcomes the possibility of harmony between her stepparents.

  • Claude and Overmore become acquainted and he supports her access to Maisie; Maisie seeks to learn whether their communication continues.
  • Maisie recalls her role in bringing her stepparents together and recognises that collecting or visiting her can provide a pretext for their contact.
  • Claude receives Mrs. Beale's letters and, according to her account relayed by Wix, visits repeatedly; he also associates his fear of her with her adoration.
  • Claude and Mrs. Beale explicitly make shared responsibility for Maisie a purpose of their connection and envisage accompanying her together.

• Overmore asserts continuing rights and interest in Maisie, promising to collect her if Claude keeps her too long and requiring him to bring her back.

  • Overmore acts on her continuing interest by trying to see Maisie, but Ida resents these attempts despite Claude's support, leaving Maisie uncertain whether contact must cease.
  • Claude raises the prospect of Maisie's return to Mrs. Beale, bringing the promised return back into consideration.
  • Claude brings Maisie to Mrs. Beale and warns that Mrs. Beale may require Maisie to remain, making her asserted claim on Maisie an immediate possibility.

• Claude undertakes to ensure Ida treats Maisie properly, giving Maisie grounds to trust his care despite Ida's reluctance.

  • Claude repeatedly comforts and attends to Maisie, providing gifts and outings while Ida initially refuses to see her.
  • Claude renews his commitment to Maisie through promises of support, continued proximity, frequent visits and compensation for her lost time.
  • Claude accepts personal responsibility for Maisie and, after returning from Paris, renews his attentive companionship; Maisie compares his care to that of a good nurse.
  • Claude explicitly promises never to forsake Maisie, protects Wix's position, and pays for Maisie's maintenance; Maisie believes his pledge and treats his intervention as evidence of commitment.
  • Ida ceases contesting Claude's responsibility for Maisie; Maisie feels confirmed in a future with him, and he commits to their departure for France.
  • Ida relinquishes maternal responsibility and entrusts Maisie to Claude, extending his responsibility for her care.

• Claude proposes taking Maisie immediately to Ida's household and asks her to unite it; Maisie eagerly agrees, and Overmore permits the departure and promises to send her belongings.

  • The transfer to Ida's household is accomplished, but the proposed unifying role remains unfulfilled: Ida resents Claude's initiative, delays the reunion and dismisses Maisie.
  • Claude's admission of marital estrangement and prediction that Maisie cannot repair it block the unifying purpose of bringing her into Ida's household.
  • Maisie is living again at Beale's house, and Ida has relinquished her care to Beale.

• Wix and Maisie undertake an urgent campaign to remedy Maisie's supposed educational deficiencies, and Maisie accepts Wix's account of her previous instruction.

• Ida resents Claude's independent arrangements concerning Maisie and Overmore, seeks information through Maisie, and opposes Overmore's attempts to see her despite Claude's support.

  • Ida is accepted as the obstacle to Mrs. Beale's correspondence, while unequal visiting possibilities, possible secret visits and Claude's fear of Ida sustain the conflict over contact.
  • Ida openly accuses Claude of alienating Maisie and treats their supposed alliance as grounds for requiring him to keep the child.
  • Ida condemns Claude's care of Maisie as servility to Beale, extending her hostility toward his independent arrangements for the child.

• Claude becomes a generous companion and protector to Maisie and Wix; both grow attached to him, and Wix declares overwhelming love for him.

  • Claude's promises deepen Maisie's devotion and sense of responsibility for him, and she recognises her role in connecting him with Wix. Her eagerness is nevertheless qualified by embarrassment, exclusion and awareness of his concealment.
  • Claude renews his generosity and visits, while his private consultations with Wix deepen her sense of importance and her overriding allegiance to him.
  • Claude supplies and protects Maisie and Wix, continues outings with Maisie, and deepens her attachment through his pledge and apparent shared tears; Wix acknowledges his persuasive hold over her.
  • Claude sends Maisie music, takes her out and restores her sense of reassurance; he also initially insists on keeping her beside him during the encounter with Ida.
  • Claude sustains his care through messages and books, and Maisie's belief that he fears compromising her strengthens her love for him.
  • Claude acts on Wix's appeal and renews Maisie's ecstatic confidence in his protection and claim to care for her.
  • After Ida leaves, Claude's attentive companionship gives Maisie exceptional happiness, and she accepts his declaration that he is free.
  • Maisie experiences greater equality and tacit confidence with Claude, while his reception of Wix and financing of her travel wardrobe extend his care for both.
  • Maisie recognizes the strength of Wix and Claude's alliance, and identification with Claude's fear deepens her tenderness toward him.
  • Claude promises generous provision, renews his bond with Maisie through their embrace, and inspires her worshipful admiration.
  • Maisie recognizes that Wix can deride Claude's fear while remaining devoted to him, and receives wholly serious confirmation of her adoration.
  • Maisie's uncomplicated delight in Claude gives way to unease about his changed conduct and troubled manner, while his breakfast arrangements renew his practical care for her and Wix.
  • Wix's professed love for Claude is reiterated, but Claude denies reciprocating it as he loves Maisie and expressly limits his obligations to Wix.
  • Claude protects Maisie and upholds her choice, but relinquishes her to Wix; their attachment culminates in a final farewell, and Maisie looks back to find him absent.

• Claude enlists Maisie to conceal his conversation with Overmore from Ida; Maisie withstands Ida's questioning and receives Claude's approval.

• Wix fears that Ida may send Maisie to school, separating them, and relies on Claude to preserve their arrangement.

  • Wix's anticipated separation from Maisie causes renewed distress, although no school placement is established.
  • Maisie recognizes that the proposed arrangement with Mrs. Beale leaves Wix's future unresolved, renewing the uncertainty over their continued life together.

• Maisie and Wix refrain from asking Claude to explain his games so that he will not learn of their difficulty with them.

• Wix's alliance with Claude excludes Mrs. Beale, and Wix would report a visit by her.

  • Wix investigates Claude's connection with Mrs. Beale by visiting her, then reacts with heightened alarm when Maisie reports his denial.
  • Wix's direct appeal to Mrs. Beale exposes their opposition over Claude; Maisie attempts to improve Mrs. Beale's attitude toward Wix.
  • Maisie recognizes that Wix's desired future excludes Mrs. Beale, and Wix explicitly refuses a household that includes her.
  • Mrs. Beale's solicitous treatment accompanies Mrs. Wix's conditional willingness to accept her in Sir Claude's place, qualifying Wix's exclusion of her.

• Maisie seeks to protect Mrs. Beale from Claude's criticism.

  • Maisie's protection of Mrs. Beale extends to defending her against Beale's condemnation and preserving the arrangement with both stepparents.

• Claude proposes reciprocal help, and Maisie embraces helping him and feels obliged to remain with and care for him.

  • Maisie's general commitment to helping Claude acquires a concrete object: supporting his proposed entry into Parliament as a way to relieve his misery.
  • Maisie perceives the burden their proposed accommodation places on Claude and resolves to handle their dependence with utmost delicacy.
  • Maisie's duty to help Claude expands into responsibility for keeping both stepparents right, and she feels its burden.
  • Maisie leaves with Claude and learns that their shared situation requires concealment and economy.
  • Maisie interprets Claude's noninterference as reliance on her and supports his proposal to leave her with Mrs. Wix.
  • Maisie reassures Claude and undertakes emotional care of Wix, feeling burdened by his request for exceptional kindness.
  • Maisie seeks to reciprocate Claude's apparent care by supporting his interests and the regularity of his relationship with Mrs. Beale.

• Claude admits his estrangement from Ida and tells Maisie she cannot repair their marriage; Maisie learns that he fears Ida.

  • Maisie's initial encouragement at apparent marital happiness gives way to knowledge that Ida no longer loves Claude, recognition of conflicting allegiances and Wix's account of his misery.
  • The marital strain becomes clearer, Claude hesitates to leave because of his position as Ida's husband and possible public blame, and Ida spends increasingly long periods away.
  • Claude describes reciprocal freedom within the marriage, admits that fear led him to marry Ida, and reports lost affection; their arrangement now fails to satisfy Ida.
  • Claude suspects Ida's account of her journey, discusses her other men and anticipates her accusations; their encounter develops into an angry quarrel witnessed in part by Maisie.
  • Maisie learns the words of Claude's openly hostile insult to Ida, making the estrangement between them more explicit.
  • The Captain anticipates a future dependent on Claude leaving Ida; after the spouses' conversation, they separate and Maisie infers Claude wishes to avoid her scrutiny. Their actual agreement remains unknown.
  • Maisie learns that Claude has not seen Ida for twelve days, while Mrs. Beale's reports about Ida become increasingly hostile.
  • Ida commits to living for herself and departs; Claude subsequently declares himself free, marking a further separation without establishing a formal end to the marriage.

• Maisie learns Claude may visit Mrs. Beale secretly, recognises his capacity for concealment, and conceals that recognition.

  • Claude's denial conflicts with Mrs. Beale's account of repeated visits; Maisie now helps conceal the discovery rather than challenging him.
  • The concealed meetings and Maisie's prior knowledge of them become explicit among Maisie, Claude and Mrs. Beale.

• Ida brings Perriam into her domestic circle; Wix believes his visits would provoke Claude's resentment, and Maisie comes to perceive competing allegiances within the marriage.

  • Wix predicts that Ida's involvement with Perriam will end, but reports that Claude denies being angry about Perriam and attributes his anger to someone else.
  • Claude reports Perriam's ruin and alleges that Ida has other men. Maisie knows of Lord Eric and encounters another companion, whose identification as Count or Captain remains disputed.

• Wix gives Claude priority over Ida, compromising her loyalty and discretion as Ida's employee and explicitly refusing to support Ida against him.

  • Ida openly accuses Wix of serving Claude and spying; Wix claims to have concealed Ida's misconduct and urges Claude toward a separate household and a life centered on Maisie.

• Wix undertakes to help Claude enter Parliament and recruits Maisie, presenting public life as his proper sphere and a possible escape from misery; Claude's own commitment remains unconfirmed.

• Ida demands Wix's dismissal, accuses her of spying and serving Claude, and orders servants to withhold service; Wix resists removal despite abuse and unpaid wages.

  • Wix reports that Ida actively urged her departure and sent her away, extending Ida's earlier efforts to remove her.

• Wix commits to staying with Maisie until physically expelled.

  • Wix's reported declaration that she will never desert Maisie reaffirms her commitment.
  • Wix renews her determination to remain with Maisie by promising never to let her out of her sight.
  • Wix renews her determination to remain with Maisie by threatening never to lose sight of her.

• Wix proposes a separate home for herself, Maisie and Claude, and Maisie supports his joining them; Claude resists and postpones acceptance while considering his obligations and public responsibility for leaving Ida.

  • Although his arrangement with Ida is failing, Claude still has no clear alternative accommodation to offer.
  • Maisie reluctantly accepts that Claude will not wholly abandon Ida and sees no alternative arrangement, leaving the proposed separate home unrealized.
  • Wix joins Claude and Maisie abroad with Claude's material support. He reassures Maisie about her arrival, and Maisie recognizes Wix as central to their changed arrangements, though a permanent shared home is not established.
  • Mrs. Wix reports Ida's wish that she have Maisie, and Claude proposes placing Maisie in her care, though his accompanying departure leaves their shared household unsettled.
  • Ida's assurance that Claude is free, her relinquishment of Maisie and Wix's arrival in France bring the proposed household closer to realization, though Claude's lasting commitment remains unsettled.
  • Wix renews the proposal of a shared life, but Claude departs without accepting it, an evasion Maisie recognizes.
  • Maisie seeks to include Mrs. Beale in the proposed shared life, while Wix rejects that condition; Claude's acceptance remains unestablished.
  • Claude proposes a household that excludes Wix and anticipates her return to London, further obstructing the proposed shared home with her.
  • Claude commits to retaining Mrs. Beale, while Maisie and Wix depart without him, defeating the proposed shared household.

• Wix seeks to save Claude from another woman by making care of Maisie his central duty; Claude understands her reference, while Maisie cannot identify its object.

  • Reports of Claude's repeated visits to Mrs. Beale and his apparent concealment intensify Wix's alarm about his attachment elsewhere.
  • Wix has pleaded with Mrs. Beale to spare Claude, but Mrs. Beale refuses and instead joins Claude in claiming care of Maisie as their shared duty.
  • Wix's appeal moves Claude to leave Mrs. Beale and take Maisie abroad; Maisie now understands the attachment from which Wix is trying to draw him.
  • Maisie identifies Mrs. Beale as the chief target of Wix's condemnation, while Claude confirms Wix's charge that he fears her.
  • Wix explicitly offers to end Claude's connection with Mrs. Beale herself; her appeal agitates him but secures no answer.
  • Protecting Claude becomes an explicitly shared concern that strengthens Wix's alliance with Maisie against Mrs. Beale.

• Maisie resolves that she and Wix must exercise utmost delicacy about their precarious support, while Wix refuses to ask Claude to pay her outstanding salary.

• Wix places her hopes in Ida's permanent departure and a home with Claude, drawing courage from that expected future.

  • Wix anticipates separation from Maisie, while Claude offers no clear alternative home despite the breakdown of his arrangement with Ida.
  • Claude's proposed departure with Susan alarms Mrs. Wix and threatens her hope of keeping him with herself and Maisie.
  • Ida's assurances and withdrawal restore Wix's hopes for life with Claude and Maisie; Wix joins them and declares Ida forgiven.

• According to Claude, Beale no longer loves Mrs. Beale, exposing estrangement within Maisie's father's marriage.

  • Mrs. Beale discovers Beale with another woman after believing he had gone away, accuses him of having a new companion and confronts him; he removes Maisie from the encounter.
  • Beale explicitly declares his desertion of Mrs. Beale and the irrevocable end of their relationship.
  • Mrs. Beale now claims release from her marital constraints, though the precise arrangement remains unspecified.

• Wix reports repeated visits by Claude to Mrs. Beale, contradicting his denial to Maisie; Maisie initially disputes the report, and both suffer over his apparent untruth.

  • Mrs. Beale directly confirms the meetings, both adults learn that Wix informed Maisie, and Maisie explains Wix's distress at Claude's deception.
  • After Wix reports Claude is with Mrs. Beale, Maisie becomes convinced that his denial of seeing her is false; he stops her attempt to establish Mrs. Beale's presence.
  • Maisie's confidence in Claude's truthfulness about Mrs. Beale deteriorates despite his renewed insistence that he has not seen her.

• Maisie and Wix agree not to confront Claude about his apparent falsehood, and Maisie conceals their discovery, interpreting his denial as tenderness toward Mrs. Beale.

  • Maisie discloses their discovery to Claude and Mrs. Beale and explains Wix's objection, ending her concealment of what they know.

• Claude takes Maisie to Mrs. Beale at her father's new house, where she may be required to stay; he makes entering conditional on Maisie's assent and promises to drive away if she refuses.

  • Maisie accepts the proposed stay after securing Claude's promise of frequent visits, leaves the vehicle, and awaits Mrs. Beale, whom the butler goes to fetch.
  • Maisie accepts staying immediately with Mrs. Beale after assurances about her father, and Claude departs.
  • The contemplated transfer has taken effect: Maisie has returned to live at Beale's house.
  • Maisie's return to her father's house establishes the stay with Mrs. Beale contemplated by the earlier transfer.

• Maisie feels responsible for protecting her father's standing before Claude, experiencing shame at diminishing him; Claude appears to recognize her sense of responsibility.

  • Maisie's protective concern for her father extends to relieving his embarrassment and preparing to support the domestic appearance she suspects he wants to present.

• Claude promises to maintain contact with Maisie and, under her pressure, to visit frequently if she stays with Mrs. Beale; Maisie makes her acceptance depend on that promise.

  • Claude renews his promise of contact, commits to bringing Maisie's belongings tomorrow and promises to accompany her to lectures.
  • Claude visits and renews his commitment to his promise, although Maisie's repeated inquiries about his absence show that the promised frequency has disappointed her.
  • Claude maintains indirect contact, but the promised personal reunion remains obstructed by his scruples about involving Maisie.
  • Claude restores direct companionship by collecting Maisie and taking her away with him.
  • Sir Claude has promised Maisie and Mrs. Wix that he will come; Mrs. Wix predicts his imminent arrival, but he has not yet appeared.

• Claude undertakes to settle the difficulty of Wix's attachment to Maisie while arranging Maisie's transfer to Mrs. Beale.

• Mrs. Beale rejects Wix's plea to spare Claude and declares her determination to retain her claim on him.

  • Claude acts on Wix's opposing claim, while Mrs. Beale's jealousy makes Wix's influence something to conceal.
  • Maisie interprets the letter as Mrs. Beale's triumph; Claude declares a duty to visit her, while Wix proposes intervening to end their connection.
  • Mrs. Beale seeks Sir Claude's arrival, while Mrs. Wix interprets her maternal conduct as a strategy for retaining him through Maisie.
  • Wix refuses to approach the couple, discourages Maisie's approach and describes the salon as reserved for them; Claude learns of her refusal to join them.
  • Claude publicly promises never to give Mrs. Beale up. Maisie understands his choice, and Wix subsequently concludes that he has gone to her.

• Mrs. Beale and Claude undertake joint care of Maisie as a decent purpose for their connection, charging Maisie with helping keep them right.

  • Claude pursues educational arrangements for Maisie and publicly claims responsibility for her through Beale's authorization.
  • Their joint care produces actual educational provision, but Claude's objection to involving Maisie exposes a limit to using that care as the basis of their connection.
  • Beale abruptly removes Maisie from Mrs. Beale and takes her elsewhere, interrupting the arrangement for her joint care by Mrs. Beale and Claude.
  • Maisie explicitly defends remaining with Claude and Mrs. Beale and recognises how each spouse's departure could free them, although no joint household is secured.
  • Claude leaves Mrs. Beale with Maisie, interrupting their arrangement for joint care; Maisie recognizes tension between their being lovers and caring for her.
  • Mrs. Beale has left Sir Claude and proposes replacing him as Maisie's keeper; Maisie insists on Sir Claude alone.
  • Claude probes whether Wix has discussed Maisie's continuing life with him and Mrs. Beale, but no agreement emerges; Mrs. Beale will stay while Claude has not settled whether he will leave.
  • Claude renews joint care with Mrs. Beale as a concrete arrangement abroad, conditional on Maisie's choice.
  • Claude abandons accommodating Maisie within his life with Mrs. Beale and entrusts her to Wix, ending their undertaking to care for her jointly.

• Mrs. Beale promises Maisie an expanded education through courses and lectures; Claude promises to investigate and accompany her, and Mrs. Beale proposes joining them.

  • Claude supplies a music score and intends regular lessons and institutional lectures. French literature classes have nevertheless stopped for lack of money, limiting the promised expansion.
  • Directed reading, supplied books and institutional lectures fulfil parts of the educational promise, although Claude's hoped-for attendance remains obstructed.
  • Maisie's abrupt removal and intended journey to France interrupt the proposed educational arrangement with Mrs. Beale.
  • Claude proposes that he and Mrs. Beale undertake Maisie's education themselves, without another governess.

• Maisie's enthusiasm for life with Mrs. Beale conflicts with her loyalty to Wix, producing guilt and anxiety about abandoning her.

  • Maisie's exhilaration with Mrs. Beale temporarily displaces even her remembrance of Wix, intensifying the underlying division of attachment without explicitly settling it.
  • Fear of betraying Mrs. Beale drives Maisie's inclusive proposal, but her attempt to preserve both attachments ends in a rupture with Wix.

• Claude discovers Ida in London with a male companion when he believed her to be in Brussels, and suspects she never made the reported journey.

  • Claude's identification of Ida's companion proves mistaken: he took the Captain for the Count.
  • Claude and Maisie learn that Ida's previously unidentified cab companion was Mr. Tischbein.

• Ida contests Claude's claimed authority to care for Maisie through Beale, demands direct confirmation from Beale and threatens to expose Claude's alleged scheme to Maisie.

  • Ida delegates Maisie's care to the Captain while undertaking to confront Claude as the person she holds responsible.

• Maisie experiences Ida's tender appeal as unprecedented and eagerly enters her embrace, but Ida promptly dismisses her to the Captain.

  • The Captain's account renews Maisie's love and pity for Ida, although she remains convinced that Ida will not receive her.
  • Ida's relaxed affection dispels Maisie's fear and elicits admiration and efforts to sustain friendly contact, although Maisie interprets it as evidence that Ida is relinquishing her.
  • Maisie takes Ida's reported illness seriously, regrets questioning it and offers her tea. Her confidence in Ida's goodness renews their emotional connection.
  • Their apparent reconciliation collapses into Ida's insults. Her anger gives way to pity, but she withdraws the anticipated gift and leaves Maisie.

• Claude's abusive anger toward Ida shocks Maisie and drives her to seek refuge with the Captain, disturbing her experience of Claude as a reassuring protector.

  • The Captain provides relief and earns Maisie's trust after Claude's anger; she learns the precise insult and temporarily ceases to mind Claude being confronted.
  • With Claude, Maisie's fear of parental conflict returns. She protects her confidence with the Captain against his questioning and tolerates his displeasure rather than seeking reassurance.

• The Captain gains Maisie's trust by responding kindly to her distress and taking charge of her at Ida's request; his treatment of her as a young lady prompts her to attempt a sophisticated reply.

  • Maisie seeks correction from the Captain, finds comfort in his assurances and tells him she likes him; he welcomes her receptiveness to his confidences.

• The Captain declares Ida his best-ever friend and reveals that she has told him much about Maisie, presenting his welcome of Maisie as an extension of that friendship.

  • The Captain explicitly declares his love for Ida and his intention to live with her after Claude leaves; Maisie asks him to make that love permanent.

• The Captain seeks to restore Maisie's trust in Ida, urging her to reject harmful accounts of her mother and assuring her of Ida's love.

  • The Captain's earlier assurances continue to influence Maisie, supporting her renewed trust in Ida and belief that Ida means Claude no harm.

• The Captain's praise awakens Maisie's pity and renewed love for Ida, and Maisie urges him to give Ida lasting devotion.

  • Maisie's attachment to the Captain persists through Ida's contempt: she explains that she likes him for praising Ida and fears what losing his devotion means for her mother.

• Maisie promises to keep the Captain's disclosures confidential and protects them from Claude through deliberate evasiveness, enduring his displeasure.

  • Maisie discloses her encounter with the Captain to Mrs. Beale while continuing to withhold it from Claude, limiting the confidentiality previously promised.
  • Maisie discloses to Ida the Captain's praise and her own hopes for him, loosening her earlier undertaking to keep his disclosures confidential.

• The Captain proposes that Maisie return to Ida without Claude and that he eventually live with Ida after Claude leaves her.

  • Ida leaves Maisie to Claude and professes contempt for the Captain; Maisie's hope that he will accompany Ida receives no support.

• The Captain offers to ask Ida to take Maisie along with them immediately; Maisie agrees to seek Ida instead of waiting for Claude, but no acceptance by Ida is established.

• Mrs. Beale makes Maisie her confidante about Claude, whose affection has restored her confidence and self-esteem.

• Mrs. Beale maintains private contact with Claude and acts as intermediary for his correspondence with Maisie.

  • Mrs. Beale forwards Beale's letter to Claude with a covering note, continuing their private correspondence.

• Mrs. Beale adopts a policy of refusing male visitors, professedly to protect her propriety and attend to Maisie's education.

• Claude's scruples about involving Maisie in his relationship with Mrs. Beale obstruct their reunion; Mrs. Beale does not share his objection.

  • Claude's difficulty reconciling his relationship with Mrs. Beale and his care for Maisie develops into departure from that relationship.
  • Wix represents Claude's removal of Maisie from Mrs. Beale and his avoidance of Maisie as efforts to spare the child shame.
  • Claude intervenes against Mrs. Beale's pressure on Maisie and forces her to release the child.

• Mrs. Beale plans to take Maisie to the Earl's Court Exhibition, where Claude will try to meet them discreetly.

  • The Exhibition outing takes place and Claude does appear, although Maisie initially concludes he will not come and their intended encounter is overtaken by Beale's intervention.

• Maisie resolves to overcome Claude's scruples by telling him that neither she nor Mrs. Beale objects to her involvement in their relationship.

  • Mrs. Beale first encourages and then withdraws permission for the proposed approach to Claude; when Maisie finally sees him, Beale carries her away before she can carry it out.
  • Claude's departure with Maisie frustrates her intended effort to overcome his scruples and restore the arrangement with Mrs. Beale.

• Beale's unexpected removal of Maisie and subsequent tenderness renew her paternal attachment; she feels included in his purposes and becomes solicitous of his embarrassment.

  • Maisie's willingness to accompany Beale and distress at losing him coexist with her recognition of his wish to escape parental duties and declining confidence in his claims.

• Beale brings Maisie to the Countess's house because he wants the Countess to see her, while approaching a further purpose he has not disclosed.

  • The intended meeting with the Countess occurs and yields offers of travel; Maisie asks to return home and departs.

• Beale has an established connection with the Countess: he has given her chocolates, possesses access to her house and appears at home there.

  • The Countess's proposed American business and Maisie's analogy with Ida and the Captain clarify the connection; the sovereigns persuade Maisie that the claimed American interests exist.

• Maisie prepares to help Beale present their relationship as easy and familiar, waiting for his cue despite not knowing his purpose.

  • Maisie cannot sustain an easy performance of agreement: she recognises Beale's pressure, rejects travel with the Countess and becomes distressed by her inability to welcome their offers.

• Maisie seeks a settlement that preserves her connection with Claude and Mrs. Beale, first diverting Beale toward Ida and then openly defending her wish to remain with her stepparents.

• Beale plans to leave for America, where the Countess wants him to inspect her interests.

• Beale offers to take Maisie to America, invoking abundant money and permanent separation if she stays; her professed willingness gives way to resistance to travelling with the Countess and a request to go home.

• Maisie understands Beale's affection as pressure to release him from parental duties and assume responsibility for their separation, but cannot reconcile pleasing him with her refusal to give him up.

  • Ida's departure makes Maisie connect her mother's abandonment with her father's rejection and question his continuing significance.
  • The reported outcome makes Beale's relinquishment explicit: he abandons responsibility for Maisie in favour of life with the Countess and leaves her to her stepparents.

• The Countess offers Maisie travel, seeks reciprocal affection and is hurt by her rejection, yet arranges her departure and gives her sovereigns.

• Mrs. Beale professes an intention to return the Countess's sovereigns, takes Maisie's remaining coins and attempts to recover Susan's coin; Susan refuses.

  • Mrs. Beale is reported to have returned the Countess's money after receiving it from Maisie.

• Mrs. Beale's demand for Susan's sovereign and insulting treatment provoke Susan's resentment; Maisie fears that the servants' grievances will produce a revolt.

• Claude acts on Wix's appeal to leave Mrs. Beale and take Maisie abroad, departing with Maisie and Susan for Folkestone before an intended crossing to France, under a warning that they must economize.

  • Claude declares himself free and explicitly commits to taking Maisie to France the next day; she assents, though the crossing has not occurred.
  • Claude, Maisie and Susan complete the crossing to France and establish themselves in Boulogne; Claude waits there for Wix, who arrives and joins them.
  • Wix joins Maisie and Claude in France, extending the departure she helped bring about.

• Claude and Maisie must conceal Wix's involvement in their departure from Mrs. Beale because of her jealousy.

• After learning where Claude has taken Maisie, Ida seeks a meeting before their crossing to France and requests a private conversation with her daughter.

  • Ida secures the opportunity to speak privately with Maisie after assuring Claude that she will not attack him; Claude leaves them alone. The substance of the communication remains undisclosed.
  • Ida's private conversation with Maisie takes place and ends with her departure.

• Ida reports ill health and intends to seek proper treatment at a fashionable destination.

  • Ida identifies South Africa as a possible extended stay for her health; Maisie later reports this destination and its climatic purpose to Claude.
  • News that Wix has seen Ida, apparently in London, leads Maisie to suspect that Ida has not made her intended departure; its completion remains unconfirmed.

• Ida intends to return to Dover for dinner and refuses Claude's proposal to accompany her.

  • Ida leaves without Claude, who receives confirmation of her departure; her arrival at Dover is not established.

• Maisie tries to help Ida depart willingly by concealing her astonishment and offering sympathy, but her mention of the Captain breaks their apparent understanding.

• Maisie hopes the Captain will accompany and protect Ida; Ida professes contempt for him, leaving Maisie angry and afraid for her mother's future.

• Maisie seeks a definite departure for Paris, but Claude's uncertainty and concern about expense obstruct it.

  • Maisie presses for immediate departure to Paris, but Claude does not fund the tickets and they miss the train.

• Claude's need to economize complicates their arrangements abroad, while he describes his attempts at thrift as financially ruinous.

  • Paying the bills before Sir Claude arrives becomes an immediate unresolved difficulty; Mrs. Wix says Mrs. Beale has no money.

• Maisie proposes living inexpensively in France; Claude proposes staying in Boulogne for three or four days and then makes their stay contingent on Mrs. Wix's arrival.

  • Mrs. Wix is now present with them, satisfying Claude's stated condition for staying; he proposes leaving Maisie in her care while taking Susan back.

• Ida seeks Susan's dismissal through Mrs. Wix; Claude commits to taking Susan back and proposes leaving Maisie with Mrs. Wix.

  • Claude confirms arrangements for Maisie and Wix to remain and announces that he will deal directly with Miss Ash; Susan's actual return is not established.

• Maisie supports being left with Mrs. Wix while Claude takes Susan back, but Mrs. Wix fears his departure and urges that Susan return alone.

  • Maisie supports Claude's temporary departure, while Wix's distress and alternative proposal sustain her resistance.

• Claude postpones discussion of his possible return to Mrs. Beale until tomorrow, leaving the question unsettled.

  • Claude settles the immediate question by announcing an early departure to visit Mrs. Beale and promising to return by Saturday.

• Claude admits that he fears Mrs. Beale; Maisie recognizes his fear of Ida, Mrs. Beale and Wix as a recurring vulnerability.

  • Maisie recognizes Wix's unexpected power over Claude, whose agitation and unanswered departure extend his pattern of evasion.
  • Claude's fear of Mrs. Beale becomes a subject of Wix's derision and a perceived danger to Maisie's own interests.
  • Claude's exceptional nervousness terrifies Maisie, who begins to interpret his evasiveness as fear of himself.
  • Maisie recognizes Claude's continuing fear and accepts Wix's interpretation that he fears his own weakness.

• Susan resists the proposed relief from her duties, placing Maisie in the position of mediating between her and Wix.

• Wix prevents Maisie from reading Beale's letter, opposing Claude's decision to disclose it to her.

• Wix offers to visit Mrs. Beale herself and end Claude's connection with her, then return to a shared life with Claude and Maisie; Claude leaves without answering.

• Wix holds Maisie responsible for understanding the moral objection to Claude's connection with Mrs. Beale; Maisie experiences this demand as an accusation of the disloyalty she has tried to avoid.

  • Wix presses Maisie to condemn the relationship, not merely understand it. Maisie feels oppressed, while Wix remains distressed by what she regards as inadequate moral understanding despite tentative signs of progress.
  • Mrs. Wix rejects the suggestion that Mrs. Beale's maternal behavior demonstrates moral sense and regards Sir Claude's anticipated speedy arrival as indecent.
  • Wix's account of Claude's passions and prediction of Mrs. Beale's hatred intensify Maisie's sense of being implicated in the couple's connection and driven to defend herself.
  • Wix tests Maisie's moral understanding, distressing her, and interprets her inability to articulate it as its destruction by Claude.

• Maisie proposes a household including Claude, Mrs. Beale and Wix, hoping to preserve all three attachments; Wix refuses its terms.

  • Wix's insistence on condemnation, including despite Claude's freedom, continues to obstruct a household preserving all three attachments; Maisie now professes hostility toward Mrs. Beale.
  • Mrs. Beale proposes bringing Sir Claude to their company, and Maisie infers that his arrival will let them all remain together, including Mrs. Wix. Mrs. Wix's acceptance is not established.
  • Maisie now expressly rejects Mrs. Beale as keeper and accepts only Sir Claude alone, abandoning her proposed inclusive household.
  • Claude's requirement that Maisie relinquish Wix directly obstructs her proposed household preserving all three attachments.

• Wix claims that the Countess pays Beale, and Maisie takes this financial dependence as a mitigating explanation of her father's conduct.

• Maisie seeks to prove her moral understanding and sincerity to Wix, asking for trust and adopting declarations of jealousy and hostility toward Mrs. Beale.

  • Maisie cannot sustain or express the moral understanding Wix demands, and Wix concludes that she has lost it.
  • Maisie's account of looking back for Claude and her assurance renew Wix's recognition of the child's understanding.

• Maisie begins to see Claude's fear of Mrs. Beale as a threat to her own interests and considers jealousy as an explanation of her feelings.

  • The prospect of Mrs. Beale replacing Sir Claude makes Maisie's fear of losing him concrete and produces an explicit refusal of Mrs. Beale.
  • Maisie recognizes how Mrs. Beale changes her relationship with Claude. His declaration that he returned for Maisie briefly reassures her, but his own departure remains undecided while Mrs. Beale's continued stay is confirmed.

• Mrs. Beale proposes waiting for Sir Claude and recruiting Maisie and Mrs. Wix to induce him to join them.

  • Mrs. Beale's apparent effort to gain time and her stated separation from Sir Claude accompany a replacement arrangement rather than an established reunion.
  • Maisie categorically refuses to remain with Mrs. Beale and Wix without Claude, rejecting the arrangement on which waiting for him depends.

• Mrs. Beale seeks to keep Maisie in Sir Claude's place and courts Mrs. Wix's acceptance of that arrangement.

  • Mrs. Beale's assertion of an equal claim to Maisie, as her father's representative, supplies a further basis for retaining her; Claude learns that this claim has been made.
  • Maisie reports Mrs. Beale's sustained attentions to Wix and Wix's enjoyment of them, giving evidence that her cultivation of Wix is gaining acceptance.
  • Maisie's explicit refusal to stay with the two women without Claude obstructs Mrs. Beale's attempt to keep her in his place.
  • Mrs. Beale and Wix openly quarrel, Wix invites Maisie to leave, and Mrs. Beale recognizes with dismay that Maisie may abandon her.
  • Wix claims responsibility for Maisie, Claude entrusts Maisie to her, and Maisie leaves after Mrs. Beale yields the doorway, ending Mrs. Beale's attempt to keep her.

• Maisie rejects Mrs. Beale as her keeper and insists on Sir Claude alone, despite Mrs. Wix's willingness to soften her opposition to Mrs. Beale as his replacement.

  • Maisie makes Claude's presence indispensable, but postpones deciding whether to accept his arrangement with Mrs. Beale until she has seen Wix.
  • Maisie makes life with Claude conditional on his leaving Mrs. Beale, then asks him to accompany her and Wix.
  • Maisie clarifies her wishes and rejects remaining with Mrs. Beale; once she understands that Claude will not leave Mrs. Beale, she chooses departure with Wix.

• Mrs. Beale intends to divorce Beale and marry Sir Claude; she says she left Sir Claude because he has not obtained his divorce.

• Ida and Sir Claude have agreed that he will assume Maisie's whole support and release Ida from further involvement, while Ida releases him from supporting her following his payment.

• Mrs. Beale disputes Mrs. Wix's judgment that the divorces will not occur, after learning that Maisie's conviction comes from Mrs. Wix.

  • Maisie's conjecture that Claude has obtained his divorce meets another explicit rejection from Wix, leaving the disagreement over the proposed divorces unsettled.

• Maisie promises Mrs. Beale to discover whether Mrs. Wix likes her.

• Maisie seeks private access to Claude despite Wix's refusal to approach him and Mrs. Beale; she secures an outing with him for breakfast.

  • Maisie obtains the private breakfast with Claude and exchanges information with him.

• Claude and Mrs. Beale quarrel over her coming to France, complicating their reunion.

• Claude returns to see Maisie with a particular question for her, but delays disclosing it while probing what Wix has said about Maisie's living with him and Mrs. Beale.

  • Claude discloses his question: Maisie must choose whether to relinquish Wix and stay with him and Mrs. Beale, correcting her expectation that he wants her to relinquish him.

• Claude asks Maisie to give up Wix and choose life abroad with him and Mrs. Beale, proposing that Maisie live with Mrs. Beale while he lives openly nearby and that they teach her themselves.

  • Maisie offers only conditional acceptance, requiring Claude to abandon Mrs. Beale; Claude subsequently declares that Maisie refused to give Wix up.
  • Claude abandons his proposed arrangement, accepts Maisie's freedom to choose and releases her to leave with Wix.

• Choosing Claude and Mrs. Beale requires Maisie to abandon Wix, whose attachment she shares and whose future support Claude leaves uncertain; Maisie fears her own response to the choice.

  • Wix's impending departure makes the choice immediate. Maisie anticipates losing Claude and asks him to come with them, ceasing to be afraid.
  • Maisie resolves the competing attachments by choosing Wix after recognizing that Claude will retain Mrs. Beale.

• Maisie obtains time to consider Claude's proposal and his agreement that she may see Wix before deciding.

  • Maisie prolongs the outing to defer choosing, then insists on seeing Wix and receives her invitation to leave.
  • Maisie's period of consideration ends in a definite decision to depart with Wix.

• Maisie attempts to leave immediately for Paris with Claude, but he supplies no money for tickets and the train departs without them.

  • Maisie leaves with Wix by steamer, abandoning the attempted departure for Paris with Claude.

• Maisie offers to give up Wix if Claude gives up Mrs. Beale, proposing that they avoid the women until both have left.

  • The proposed reciprocal renunciation fails: Maisie seeks Mrs. Beale's commitment to give Claude up, but Claude promises never to give Mrs. Beale up, and Maisie chooses Wix.

• Wix withdraws her promise to stay, prepares to leave and offers Maisie a final opportunity to accompany her; Maisie asks Claude to join them.

  • Wix commits to leaving with and supporting Maisie; Maisie accepts and boards the steamer with her, while Claude stays behind.

• Mrs. Beale attempts to retain Maisie through commands and physical restraint; Claude insists that she release Maisie and ultimately secures her compliance.

  • Mrs. Beale renews physical restraint and blocks the exit, but Claude protects Maisie and insists on her choice; Mrs. Beale finally yields and Maisie leaves.

• Mrs. Wix undertakes responsibility for Maisie and promises to work as hard as necessary to support her.

• Claude promises to investigate and recover Maisie's money, proposing Mrs. Beale's involvement.

Places

Kensington Gardens, The Gardens, The Park, Harrow Road, Kensal Green, Brighton, Florence, Oxford Street, France, Paris, London, National Gallery, Hyde Park, Brussels, Cowes, The Exhibition, America, Spa, Folkestone, Charing Cross, Boulogne, Dover, South Africa, Edgware Road, Etablissement, Lake of Geneva