‘Would this great intelligence, this keen interest in people and the world, not have borne richer and purer fruit in an age that knew how to appreciate these gifts in a woman?’ This is how Helbertine’s brother, Onno, characterises the virtues of his sister in the obituary he wrote for the Yearbook of the Society of Dutch Literature in Leiden, 1955–1956. In doing so, he makes it clear that, in his opinion, Helbertine’s mindset was not appreciated for its true worth during her lifetime. On the one hand, she was so old-fashioned that she might have been better suited to the Victorian era; on the other hand, her virtues and social commitment would have been just as striking and unique in a later era. Her work as a translator also deserves praise. She translated around eight works from Swedish and some forty from Hungarian, including works by Kálmán Mikszáth and Géza Gárdonyi.