"My grandfather's mother, and Mr. Bulstrode's grandfather, were brother and
sister," was the quiet answer.

"This makes us a sort of cousins, according to those Dutch notions which he
so much despises, though I fancy it would not count for much at home."

Bulstrode protested to the contrary, stating that he knew his father valued
his relationship to Mr. Mordaunt, by the earnest manner in which he had
commanded him to cultivate the acquaintance of the family the instant he
reached New York. I saw by this, the footing on which the formidable
Major was placed in the family, everybody seeming to be related to Anneke
Mordaunt but myself. I took an occasion that very evening, to question the
dear girl on the subject of her Dutch connections, giving her a clue to
mine but with all our industry, and some assistance from Herman Mordaunt,
who took an interest in such a subject, as it might be _ex officio_, we
could make out no affinity worth mentioning.

[Footnote 10: Now, Liberty Street.]

[Footnote 11: The person meant here, was William Nicoll, Esquire, Patentee
of Islip, a large estate on Long Island, that is still in the family, under
a Patent granted in 1683. This gentleman was a son of Mr. Secretary Nicoll,
who is supposed to have been a relative of Col. Nicoll, the first English
Governor. Mr. Speaker Nicoll, as the son was called, in consequence of
having filled that office for nearly a generation, was the direct ancestor
of the Nicolls of Islip and Shelter Island, as well as of a branch long
settled at Stratford, Connecticut. The house alluded to by Mr. Littlepage,
as a relic of antiquity in _his_ day,--American antiquity, be it
remembered,--was standing a few years since, if it be not still standing,