Susan Slade

Having spent the last 10 years - over half of her so-far short life--in the isolated Chilean desert as her father is an engineer with Corbett Mines, 17-year-old American Susan Slade is a naive, innocent girl, unwise to the ways of the world. This world opens up to her when she and her parents, Roger and Leah Slade, move back to Monterey, California, both Susan and Leah unaware that the move is because of Roger's heart condition that can only improve with total rest. En route from Valparaiso to San Francisco, a shipboard romance with mountaineer Conn White--which both secretly profess to be love and a secret engagement--results in Susan becoming pregnant. With Conn unable to be in the picture, the Slades decide to go overseas on another mining contract for two years, returning to Monterey with the baby officially being Roger and Leah's. Roger is taking this course of action for Susan's sake at the risk of his own health. The primary question becomes whether Susan can keep to this story and give up the baby as her own, especially as she moves into the phase of adulthood and possible marriage to a husband with whom she feels she must be completely truthful. Her main two suitors are both associated with Corbett Mines but in different ways. The first is Wells Corbett, the son of the company owner. Wells could provide for Susan, but she does not love him, and is uncertain if he would accept the truth. The second is Hoyt Brecker, the owner of the stables where Susan keeps her horse. Hoyt is a brooding young man, largely because his father, a Corbett accountant, was convicted of embezzlement, a conviction which Hoyt believes was wrong, and which resulted in his father committing suicide. While Susan ends up falling in love with him, she isn't sure if she wants to subject her shame to his life. Additionally, he may not be able to provide for her, being an aspiring writer who wants no other occupation.