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Susan Ash
The Countess, a fabulously wealthy American woman, is Beale’s lover. Despite her riches, the Countess isn’t physically attractive, her noble title is questionable, as she is from a country without an aristocracy. The Countess yearns for affection and seems to use her wealth to essentially bribe Beale into being her lover, eventually taking him abroad with her.
The Countess Quotes in What Maisie Knew
The What Maisie Knew quotes below are all either spoken by The Countess or refer to The Countess. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 18 Quotes
There was something in him that seemed, and quite touchingly, to ask her to help him to pretend—pretend he knew enough about her life and her education, her means of subsistence and her views of himself, to give the questions he couldn’t put to her in a natural domestic tone.
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This passage takes place at the Countess’s house, where Beale has taken Maisie after an unexpected and unpleasant encounter at the Exhibition, during which Mrs. Beale spotted her husband with his new lover. Beale takes Maisie away and they leave the Exhibition in silence, but once they are alone Maisie finds her father not so much intimidating as awkward. Maisie soon realizes how uncomfortable Beale is in his role as her father, a position whose responsibilities he has never even tried to live up to. With this realization comes a sudden reversal of power in their dynamic, as the soothing Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Un
Chapter 19 Quotes
Then she understood as well as if he had spoken it that what he wanted, hang it, was that she should let him off with all the honours—with all the appearance of virtue and sacrifice on his side.
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In this passage Maisie divines the true nature of Beale’s offer to take her with him and the Countess to America, an offer that she initially was unable to respond to directly since she was afraid to tell him the truth: that she does not want to go with them. Maisie is too unfamiliar with and uncomfortable around her father for direct, honest communication between the two of them, but during their conversation she realizes that Beale is equally uncomfortable. His offer to take her to America is not genuine and is not made because he wants to continue to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates.
Chapter 25 Quotes
‘Mrs. Beale’s as bad as your father!’ Mrs. Wix went on.
‘She’s not—she’s not!’ her pupil almost shrieked in retort.
‘You mean because Sir Claude at least has beauty and wit and grace? But he pays just as the Countess pays!’ Mrs. Wix, who now rose as she spoke, fairly revealed a latent cynicism.
It raised Maisie also to her feet; her companion had walked off a few steps and paused. The two looked at each other as they had never looked, and Mrs. Wix seemed to flaunt there in her finery. ‘Then doesn’t he pay you too?’ her unhappy charge demanded.
At this she bounded in her place. ‘Oh, you incredible little waif!’
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This passage concludes Maisie and Mrs. Wix’s argument about Sir Claude and Mrs. Beale’s affair, in which Mrs. Wix tries and fails to convince Maisie that her stepparents’ love is morally wrong. Forced by Maisie’s questions to explain herself despite her preference to protect the innocence of her student, Mrs. Wix is forced to explain that she believes Mrs. Beale is using Sir Claude for money and prestige, rather than truly being in love with him. This is the same, she argues, as Beale’s attitude toward his mistresses like the Countess, and any love born of such circumstances cannot be Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi
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The Countess Character Timeline in What Maisie Knew
The timeline below shows where the character The Countess appears in What Maisie Knew. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 18
...lady’s grand drawing room. Maisie asks about the woman and learns that she is a Countess—but an American one. Beale explains that he wants to introduce Maisie to her. As they...
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Chapter 19
...by telling Maisie that he is leaving for America. He will be traveling with the Countess, on the pretext of supervising her business interests, and he wants to know if Maisie...
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...and Maisie will never see him again. They are interrupted by the arrival of the Countess, who is strikingly ugly up close. The Countess is excited to meet Maisie, but her...
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Chapter 20
The Countess gave Maisie much more money than the cost of a cab, prompting a scandalized Mrs....
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Chapter 24
...forwarded to him a letter she received from Beale, who is at Spa with the Countess, in which he officially deserts her. He tries to hand Maisie the letter before Mrs....
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Chapter 25
...them, and that Mrs. Beale is as bad as her father—that, like Beale with the Countess, she uses Sir Claude for his money. Maisie angrily points out that Sir Claude pays...
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