- Maisie and Mrs. Wix have a heart-to-heart about all four of Maisie's would-be parents.
- Maisie asks why they can't all four live together—Maisie, Mrs. Wix, Sir Claude, and Mrs. Beale.
- Mrs. Wix replies that this would be "a crime" (XXV.12).
- She means adultery but doesn't make this explicit to Maisie, who doesn't quite get it. And who can blame her? She's still so young, after all.