Laurentia took a small purse from her work-basket, and put a couple of rix-dollars into the old woman’s hand.
“There,” said she, “take that to buy them, and mind you let me have some soon.”
The crone took the money, and tied it up in the corner of a dirty handkerchief, from which a bunch of keys was dangling, and, with a cunning leer, she assured the lady that she would have no reason to complain.
Then she began to talk about master Leo, and to tell Laurentia what a dear, clever little chap he was, and how everyone in the street turned back to look at the little fellow as he passed. No doubt, now and then, an eye might be cast on the baboe also who had charge of him; for, there could be no question about it, the baboe was exceedingly pretty. Really, the njonja ought not to allow such a girl to go about so freely; she was too good-looking, and there are always people wicked enough to take advantage of innocence. The njonja knew that well enough, and it would be such a pity if the poor girl should get into bad hands. There was so much money to be made out of her. So the old hag rattled on; and so, in a disjointed way, and by degrees, she told Laurentia that Lim Ho’s passion for Dalima was daily increasing in violence, and that every day he was prepared to make greater sacrifices to gain possession of her. Then Laurentia’s greedy eye began to glisten, and cunning old MʻBok was clever enough to see that she might safely venture.
Bending forward, but still keeping her watchful eye fixed on Laurentia’s face, she went on for some time speaking in whispers, and seemed to be arousing the lady’s keenest attention; for evidently Laurentia did not lose a word, and frequently nodded in token of assent. When the nènèh had finished speaking, Mrs. van Gulpendam did not at once reply, but, for awhile, seemed lost in meditation. At length she said:
“Boleh; tapeh—mentega sama ikan.”
At the first word, “Boleh,” which signifies “it is possible, it might be done,” the dull eye of the old hag brightened; but, at the remainder of the sentence, she looked up with genuine surprise.
Yes, the purely idiomatic Dutch expression, though rendered most correctly in Malay, was beyond her.
“Mentega sama ikan?” she asked, in a strangely puzzled tone of voice.
“To be sure,” repeated Laurentia, in Malay. “Sauce with the fish. Don’t you understand me, nènèh? Cash down, I mean, MʻBok, cash down! I am not going to be taken in by empty promises.”