She spoke in a loud voice, and her words rushed one upon the other as
if she were in the habit of saying much in a short space of time. This
is a trick of speech frequently acquired by those who visit public
men. Miss Kirkman's whole manner indicated bustle and hurry. Even her
attire showed it. She was a plump woman, aged, one would say about
thirty. Her hair was brown and her eyes a steely grey--not a bad face,
but one too shrewd and aggressive perhaps for a woman. One might have
looked at her for a long time and never suspected the truth, that she
was allied to the colored race. Neither features, hair nor complexion
showed it, but then "colored" is such an elastic word, and Miss
Kirkman in reality was colored "for revenue only." She found it more
profitable to ally herself to the less important race because she
could assume a position among them as a representative woman, which
she could never have hoped to gain among the whites. So she was
colored, and, without having any sympathy with the people whom she
represented, spoke for them and uttered what was supposed by the
powers to be the thoughts that were in their breasts.
"Well, from the way you're tossing the papers in that bag I know
you've got some news for me."
"Yes, I have, but I don't know how important you'll think it is. Here
we are!" She drew forth a paper and glanced at it.
"It's just a memorandum, a list of names of a few men who need
watching. The Afro-American convention is to meet on the 22d; that's
Thursday of next week. Bishop Carter is to preside. The thing has
resolved itself into a fight between those who are office-holders and
those who want to be."
"Yes, well what's the convention going to do?"
"They're going to denounce the administration."
"Hem, well in your judgment, what will that amount to, Miss Kirkman?"
"They are the representative talking men from all sections of the
country, and they have their following, and so there's no use
disputing that they can do some harm."
"Hum, what are they going to denounce the administration for?"
"Oh, there's a spirit of general discontent, and they've got to
denounce something, so it had as well be the administration as
anything else."
There was a new gleam in Mr. Hamilton's eye that was not one of
pleasure as he asked, "Who are the leaders in this movement?"
"That's just what I brought this list for. There's Courtney, editor of
the _New York Beacon_, who is rabid; there's Jone
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