Bart had no thought of laughing.
“This is a pretty place,” he observed.
“It’s quiet and secluded,” nodded the man; “yet it is so near the house that I can easily hear them when they ring the bell for me. They think I come here to study medicine. Why, I completed the study of medicine long ago. I let them think that, however, for they would not understand if they knew what I was really studying. Any man who knows the secret may become strong if he is willing to shorten his life. You look surprised. I will explain. In order to acquire my present amount of strength, I have been compelled to boil down and concentrate the strength of several years into one year, and my life has been shortened just that much. But it is a glorious thing to know that I am the strongest man in the world. I am bound to become famous, and almost any man is willing to sacrifice a few years of life in order to win enduring fame. Perhaps you think my fame will not endure, but you are wrong. The fame of Samson has endured, and I shall become even stronger than Samson. I know the secret that Samson knew. It did not lay in his hair. What fools they were to think so! But I know the secret. It will take a little time for me to condense all the strength of years to come in one year, but I shall succeed, and then I’ll astound the world. With ease I’ll be able to pick up a horse and fling it over my head, as if it were light as a cat. I’ll have the power to topple over houses as if they were built of cards. I will——”
A voice sounded through the grove, calling:
“Doctor Lincoln! Doctor Lincoln!”
Bart started, and listened in amazement.
“Doctor Lincoln! Doctor Lincoln!” called the voice.
It was that of Elsie Bellwood, and he saw her coming toward him along a path through the grove.