Rosalie’s Diary
Rosalie’s Diary
I’ve learned that Charles is in debt. Men have come to the house demanding money. His father used to pay his gambling bills,
and knowing this, the gambling houses extended him a lot of credit. So he ran up huge debts but now he can’t pay. He says
it’s all right, he will borrow against Lennox Manor and work harder at his business. He bought a fleet of riverboats that
carry goods up and down the Yangtze River, but what does he know about river transport?
He’s started using opium.
I can’t bear to write in this diary. There’s nothing good to write about anymore.
10 January 1908
Oh Charles, Charles. My poor darling. He borrowed against the house and now the bank wants to foreclose. He was losing money
on the riverboats, so he sold the fleet to a competitor, but it still wasn’t enough to pay his debts. The servants are gone,
unpaid for so long. We have no money for food but he sells my jewelry for opium.
I said we could rent out rooms, take in boarders, but he shouted me down. His home would never become a boardinghouse. He
would not allow it. What if his friends found out?
Then I said I could go back to the Golden Rooster and sing, earn a little money.
You’re my wife now, he said, and no wife of mine will ever go onstage.
But how are we to eat? I said. We need money for food.
Charles was even more furious, he was so angry he slapped me.
He stormed off and locked himself in his bedchamber.
I could smell opium, sickly sweet coming through the gap in the door.
Father brought me food every few days, but we argued and he hasn’t come by all week. I don’t care what Charles says, someone
has to keep us from starving. Tomorrow, I’m going back to sing at the Golden Rooster. For better or for worse, he is my husband
and I love him.