ne by the Christian name. The Heer did
not pause to have his usual jokes with them, for he was impatient to
reach his home. At length they arrived at his mansion. It was of some
magnitude, in the Dutch style, with large iron figures on the gables,
that gave the date of its erection, and showed that it had been built
in the earliest times of the settlement.

The news of Heer Antony's arrival had preceded him; and the whole
household was on the look-out. A crew of negroes, large and small, had
collected in front of the house to receive him. The old, white-headed
ones, who had grown gray in his service, grinned for joy and made many
awkward bows and grimaces, and the little ones capered about his
knees. But the most happy being in the household was a little, plump,
blooming lass, his only child, and the darling of his heart. She came
bounding out of the house; but the sight of a strange young man with
her father called up, for a moment, all the bashfulness of a homebred
damsel. Dolph gazed at her with wonder and delight; never had he seen,
as he thought, any thing so comely in the shape of woman. She was
dressed in the good old Dutch taste, with long stays, and full, short
petticoats, so admirably adapted to show and set off the female form.
Her hair, turned up under a small round cap, displayed the fairness of
her forehead; she had fine, blue, laughing eyes, a trim, slender
waist, and soft swell--but, in a word, she was a little Dutch
divinity; and Dolph, who never stopt half-way in a new impulse, fell
desperately in love with her.

Dolph was now ushered into the house with a hearty welcome. In the
interior was a mingled display of Heer Antony's taste and habits, and
of the opulence of his predecessors. The chambers were furnished with
good old mahogany; the beau-fets and cupboards glittered with embossed
silver, and painted china. Over the parlour fire-place was, as usual,
the family coat-of-arms, painted and framed; above which was a long
duck fowling-piece, flanked by an Indian pouch, and a powder horn. The
room was decorated with many Indian articles, such as pipes of peace,
tomahawks, scalping-knives, hunting pouches, and belts of wampum; and
there were various kinds of fishing tackle, and two or three
fowling-pieces in the corners. The household affairs seemed to be
conducted, in some measure, after the master's humours; corrected,
perhaps, by a little quiet management of the daughter's. There was a
degree of patr