How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
She had conceived her first passion, and the object of it was her governess. (III.6)
Children have passion, too—only theirs is nonsexual. Maisie is passionate about her pretty governess, Miss Overmore. Her passion sets up the passion that her father and Sir Claude will later have for the same Miss Overmore. Of course, theirs is a pretty carnal passion.
Quote #5
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)
Children, in James's book (and his novel—hey-oh!), are more likely to see past outward shlubby looks and focus on inner beauty. Especially when that inner beauty has to do with being "soothingly safe."
Quote #6
Everything had something behind it: life was like a long, long corridor with rows of closed doors. She had learned that at these doors it was wise not to knock—this seemed to produce from within such sounds of derision. Little by little, however, she understood more, for it befell that she was enlightened by Lisette's questions, which reproduced the effect of her own upon those for whom she sat in the very darkness of Lisette. (V.4)
This is one of the most heartbreaking scenes in James's whole novel. In it, Maisie treats her doll, Lisette, the way the adults in her world treat her. It's striking that we hardly ever see Maisie playing games—she has an awful lot of serious business to attend to, after all, including the business of survival. She's mostly shown engaged in serious conversations with different adults. This fact makes the scene when she plays with Lisette that much more striking. That we hardly ever see Maisie do anything truly childish means that when we do see just that, it's a painful reminder of the fact that Maisie is just a little girl.