- Maisie heads back to her mother's.
- Enter Mrs. Wix, the governess who's now to be responsible for Maisie when she is with her mother.
- Mrs. Wix is off-putting to Maisie at first but soon wins her over.
- We learn that Mrs. Wix had a young daughter, Clara Matilda, who died, and Maisie can tell by Mrs. Wix's voice that she "had been … a mother, and that this was something Miss Overmore was not, something, strangely, confusingly that mamma was even less" (IV.1).
- So Maisie has her first experience of mother love from Mrs. Wix—more foreshadowing.
- Mrs. Wix is described as both poor and ugly but "peculiarly and soothingly safe," which in James-speak means super-protective of Maisie (IV.3).
- Maisie and Mrs. Wix visit Clara Matilda's grave.
- It turns out that Mrs. Wix is less accomplished than Miss Overmore as well as less elegant.
- Instead of learning school subjects from Mrs. Wix, Maisie listens to stories—lots and lots of them.
- The only thing that Mrs. Wix reveals about her late husband is that he has been dead for a long time. She and Maisie never go to visit his grave.