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.
Quote #4
It was while this absence lasted that our young lady finally discovered what had happened in the house to be that her mother was no longer in love. (XI.4)
Again, this quote underlines the fact that there is a huge difference between a house and a home. Maisie's mother's house is not homey.
Quote #5
She therefore recognised the hour that in troubled glimpses she had long foreseen, the hour when—the phrase for it came back to her from Mrs. Beale—with two fathers, two mothers and two homes, six protections in all, she shouldn't know "wherever" to go. (XII.1)
Notice that this quote makes "home," like parents, equivalent to "protection." No wonder Maisie, who's lived in multiple houses, remains in search of a home.
Quote #6
"For the wretched homeless child. Any roof—over our heads—will do for us" (XII.21).
These words are spoken by Mrs. Wix, who's addressing Sir Claude. Maisie is only called "homeless" once in the novel, but the description haunts her for all of the pages that follow. Homelessness is the disaster that has to be averted.
Quote #7
Could they but hold out long enough the snug little home with Sir Claude would find itself informally established. (XII.48)
Here's how Maisie and Mrs. Wix think about the life they'll set up with Sir Claude: the three of them will make a "snug little home." That this doesn't come to pass is sad, but James leaves open the possibility that Maisie and Mrs. Wix will establish a different "snug little home" on their own.