Angle of Repose

Susan is intrigued by her fiancé, who holds her ankles while she peeks over the edge of a waterfall. When she edges back from the precipice, she knows that she is “in love” (75). They agree to move out West so that Oliver can find work. When Susan tells Augusta, Augusta is “incredulous, aghast, and accusatory” (76). She has never heard of Oliver and does not understand how such a man can “come in and overturn [their lives]” (78). Oliver’s search for work takes more than a year, delaying the marriage. Susan waits “not unhappily, diligent in her work” (79). They eventually marry in her father’s house in February 1876.

The ceremony takes place in front of 44 witnesses. Augusta does not attend, using the birth of her child the month before as an excuse. Lyman is exasperated by the fawning descriptions of Oliver in his grandmother’s letters. One on occasion, Susan finally manages to invite Augusta and Thomas to dinner with Oliver. In a letter afterward, she assures Augusta that Oliver “was just as impressed by you and Thomas, the house and all belonging to you, as I wished him to be” (82). Out West, Oliver prepares a house. Susan finds a servant girl (who happens to be pregnant) and receives orders to travel. Oliver forgets to send them money. Susan panics, unsure what to do. Eventually, she buys the tickets from her own savings, “worried and ashamed” (84). The journey takes a long time, passing through “repetitive ugly barren little towns” (84).

Lyman visits the doctor in Nevada City and believes that his research leaves him better informed than “that overworked, unimaginative general practitioner” (85). During the trip, he meets Al Sutton, a man he has not seen in 40 years. Al has “been a freak all his life [so] he has a tenderness for other freaks” (86). They joke together and then Lyman reveals that he has bone disease and that he and his wife are divorced. They compare medical ailments.

Susan travels to the West, seeming unaware that “her lot at first would be hardship” (91). They ride a hot, dusty stagecoach to their home near New Almaden; Susan is still concerned that Oliver did not send her the money for the train tickets. They pass through the mining towns and camps and arrive at their house; it is not exactly as Susan had pictured it, but she likes it so much so that she worries Oliver will “spoil” (97) her. Oliver introduces Susan to a large dog named Stranger, who will become her companion. Oliver reveals the reason he did not send the money: He spent it all on the house after the mine company reneged on its offer to pay for the home. Susan settles into the home and feels a “sweet and resting content” (101). She is introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, the mine manager and his wife. Their affection for Susan, Oliver explains, is because her reputation as an artist makes “New Almaden look classy” (104). The locals are “nice enough to see once in a while but [Susan doesn’t think she will] care greatly for any of the people” (105).

Susan adjusts to life in her new home. She writes letters and unpacks her possessions. Though she is in a mining camp, she always dresses “as if for a garden party” (108). Augusta writes a short, scrawled letter: Her baby has died of diphtheria. The brief joy Susan had felt in her new home vanishes. She wants to go to Augusta but knows that doing so would be prohibitively expensive. Susan feels isolated: only Oliver interests her; the rest of the locals are “crude” (111). Though Susan pines for home and considers their West excursion temporary, Oliver seems to know otherwise yet never mentions it.

Susan watches Oliver descend into the mine. She feels “alone and in exile” (115). The summer seems unending and hot. Susan watches an old Mexican man lead a train of mules down a path, each animal heavily burdened with firewood for the house. Susan tells them where to place it and sketches them while they work. After paying the man, she gives him her drawing, and he seems to consider it “a masterpiece” (118). After, she draws Lizzie but finds herself uninspired and listless. As she considers Lizzie’s working-class stoicism, she thinks about the fact that she has “missed her last two periods” (120). Oliver brings home a new colleague—an Austrian engineer named Baron Starling—and allows the man to change in their bedroom, much to Susan’s annoyance. Later, as all three talk, the man praises Susan’s work and they discuss art. They talk politics and music late into the night. Oliver sits “nearly silent” (123); later, he reveals that he considers the baron “too soft” (124) for the mine. Earlier that day, Oliver had saved the man’s life as the baron had not been paying close enough attention to a falling slab. Susan tells Oliver that he is “going to have an heir” (126), and Lyman is unable to guess Oliver's reaction. Susan writes to Augusta about her experiences with pregnancy.

The “double pulse” (130) of Susan’s pregnancy coincides with a “blissful time” (130) in her life. The seasons change, Augusta has another child, and Susan discovers Oliver’s “unexpected capacities” (130). Her letters take on a serene tone. Susan entertains a string of visitors, many of whom are from back East and remind her of home. One of their guests, Mrs. Elliot, uses phrenology to “read their heads” (134) and makes them “collapse in laughter” (134). Oliver works hard and is commended; Susan works hard but is dissatisfied with her work. Thomas, at one point, asks to publish Susan’s “colorful and interesting” (135) letters as an article in his magazine; Susan writes a detailed article about life in New Almaden and then writes another for a different magazine, hoping to prove that she is being published for her skills, not just her connections. 

Oliver helps redesign essential mine machinery; he has received a $300 raise. He suggests hiring a person to help with the imminent baby’s arrival. One of his mother’s associates, Marian Prouse, will work “for her fare and servant’s wages” (140). Susan sells both her articles, as well as illustrations to match. She gives birth to a boy, who weighs “a humiliating eleven pounds” (141). Everyone in the mining camp celebrates. Susan works while caring for the baby.

Susan (with Miss Prouse and the baby) tours the mining camp and meets Conrad Prager as Oliver and Mr. Kendall talk. Conrad offers to take her down into the mine, though Mr. Kendall does not believe women should do so. Conrad overrules him and fits Susan with a mining hat. They descend in the elevator, and the sudden appearance of a miner surprises Susan, though she remains quiet. In the darkness, Susan listens to the “voices of the mine” (148) and learns about the Tommyknockers. She compares life in the “oppressive darkness” (149) to her existence in the cottage. She watches the miners work; Conrad passes around a bottle of alcohol to the miners, and each salutes Susan in turn. They return to the surface and, while explaining the sensibility of what she has seen, Susan offends Kendall and causes an awkward moment between the two.

On a foggy day, Susan and Oliver take a walk to the main town and enter the engineer’s office. Oliver smokes his pipe, and Susan reads a sign that forbids pipe-smoking in the office, recently erected by Mr. Kendall. Oliver reveals the growing enmity between himself and Mr. Kendall: Oliver was forced on Mr. Kendall “by Smith and Conrad” (157), and living apart from the town gives Mr. Kendall the impression that Oliver and Susan think themselves better than the other residents. The entire mine, Oliver says, is “wormy with fear and hate” (158), and Mr. Kendall fires anyone who complains. Susan realizes just how little she understands about what happens in the camp. She returns home. Lyman reflects on the lack of a miner’s union that might have allowed the men of the camp to fight back against Mr. Kendall’s cruel behavior. Oliver arrives home and announces that he has quit; Susan is glad. As Oliver explains what happened, Susan begins to realize how complicated their lives are about to become: They will need to move, and Oliver will need to find a new job. They will have to live apart while he does so. They begin to make plans.