“Terence,” I said quickly; “Look if b-e-l-e-t is in the dictionary. They always hark back to that.”
In a minute he gave a mild shout: “It’s here; it means hindrance. Ah, I see. Van Leeuwen is hindered seeing us. Hadn’t we better go?”
“De belet is niet erg, hoop ik?” I said to the servant; “ik hoop dat Mijnheer spoedig beter zal worden, als het een ziekte is.”
Now at last we had mastered the mysteries of belet? No such thing!
WIJ KRIJGEN BELET.
Turning to go, I thought I might as well enquire when van Leeuwen could be seen. “Wanneer kan ik soms Mijnheer zien?” Her reply confounded me: “Vandaag of morgen, maar U moet belet vragen.”
Vragen! surely not ask for an obstacle. “U bedoelt weigeren, niet waar?” I suggested.
“Nee: belet vragen, anders zal mijnheer u niet ontvangen.”
“Oh Terence!” I exclaimed. “This is too awful! He has this obstacle; he has given it to us; now we must ask it again. And I don’t even know what it is!”
“Take care, Jack. Don’t ask anything else, or you’ll get us into a worse mess.”