How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The child was provided for, thanks to a crafty godmother, a defunct aunt of Beale's, who had left her something in such a manner that the parents could appropriate only the income. (Preface.6)
Home ain't just where the heart is, however. It's also where the money is. Luckily, Maisie has money and therefore doesn't lack for a home. If she were poor, this story would probably be a lot bleaker.
Quote #2
Neither this, however, nor the old brown frock nor the diadem nor the button, made a difference for Maisie in the charm put forth through everything, the charm of Mrs. Wix's conveying that somehow, in her ugliness and her poverty, she was peculiarly and soothingly safe; safer than any one in the world, than papa, than mamma, than the lady with the arched eyebrows; safer even, though so much less beautiful, than Miss Overmore, on whose loveliness, as she supposed it, the little girl was faintly conscious that one couldn't rest with quite the same tucked-in and kissed-for-good-night feeling. (IV.3)
The #1 reason that Mrs. Wix wins out in the end is that she is "peculiarly and soothingly safe." She gives Maisie a sense of being home. She, unlike Miss Overmore/Mrs. Beale, gives Maisie a "tucked-in and kissed-for-good-night feeling." And that feeling is better than pretty much anything.
Quote #3
Her reflexions indeed at this moment thickened apace, and one of them made her sure that her governess had conversations, private, earnest and not infrequent, with her denounced stepfather. She perceived in the light of a second episode that something beyond her knowledge had taken place in the house. (XI.4)
Here, we see a stark divide between "house" and "home." A house is a cold structure, and a home is defined by a sense of warmth. Maisie understands that her parents' houses are not homes.