‘I reckon the trustees are middling particular. They’ll weed them out.’
‘Is there any restriction on the nationality of the competitors?’ asked Merton, on whom an idea was dawning.
‘Only members of the English speaking races need apply,’ said Miss McCabe. ‘Pappa took no stock in Spaniards or Turks.’
‘The voters will be prejudiced in favour of their own fellow citizens?’ asked Merton. ‘That is only natural.’
‘Trust the people,’ said Miss McCabe. ‘The whole thing is to be kept as dark as a blind coloured person hunting in a dark cellar for a black cat that is not there.’
‘A truly Miltonic illustration,’ said Merton.
‘The advertisement for competitors will be carefully worded, so as to attract only young men of science. The young men are not to be told about me: the prize is in dollars, “with other advantages to be later specified.” The varieties found are to be
conveyed to a port abroad, not yet named, and shipped for New York in a steamer belonging to the McCabe Trust.’
‘Then am I to understand that the conditions affecting your marriage are still an entire secret?’
‘That is so,’ said Miss McCabe, ‘and I guess from what the marchioness told me, your reference, that you can keep a secret.’