The old man stood just behind them , so as to form the chief figure in the group , with his sable cloak muffling the lower part of his visage , and his sombre list overshadowing his brows . But he gave no word of dissent from their purpose ; and an inscrutable smile was accepted by the lovers as a token that here had been no footprint of guilt or sorrow , to desecrate the site of their Temple of Happiness . In a little time longer , while summer was still in its prime , the fairy structure of the Temple arose on the summit of the knoll , amid the solemn shadows of the trees , yet often gladdened with bright sunshine . It was built of white marble , with slender and graceful pillars , supporting a vaulted dome ; and beneath the centre of this dome , upon a pedestal , was a slab of dark-veined marble , on which books and music might be strewn . But there was a fantasy among the people of the neighborhood , that the edifice was planned after an ancient mausoleum , and was intended for a tomb , and that the central slab of dark-veined marble was to be inscribed with the names of buried ones . They doubted , too , whether the form of Lilias Fay could appertain to a creature of this earth , being so very delicate , and growing every day more fragile , so that she looked as if the summer breeze should snatch her up , and waft her heavenward . But still she watched the daily growth of the Temple ; and so did old Walter Gascoigne , who now made that spot his continual haunt , leaning whole hours together on his staff , and giving as deep attention to the work as though it had been indeed a tomb . In due time it was finished , and a day appointed for a simple rite of dedication . On the preceding evening , after Adam Forrester had taken leave of his mistress , he looked back towards the portal of her dwelling , and felt a strange thrill of fear ; for he imagined that , as the setting sunbeams faded from her figure , she was exhaling away , and that something of her ethereal substance was withdrawn , with each lessening gleam of light . With his farewell glance , a shadow had fallen over the portal , and Lilias was invisible . His foreboding spirit deemed it an omen at the time ; and so it proved ; for the sweet earthly form , by which the Lily bad been manifested to the world , was found lifeless , the next morning , in the Temple , with her head resting on her arms , which were folded upon the slab of dark-veined marble . The chill winds of the earth had long since breathed a blight into this beautiful flower , so that a loving hand had now transplanted it , to blossom brightly in the garden of Paradise . But , alas for the Temple of Happiness ! In his unutterable grief , Adam Forrester had no purpose more at heart than to convert this Temple of many delightful hopes into a tomb , and bury his dead mistress there . And to ! a wonder ! Digging a grave beneath the Temple 's marble floor , the sexton found no virgin earth , such as was meet to receive the maiden 's dust , but an ancient sepulchre , in which were treasured up the bones of generations that had died long ago . Among those forgotten ancestors was the Lily to be laid . And when the funeral procession brought Lilias thither in her coffin , they beheld old Walter Gascoigne standing beneath the dome of the Temple , with his cloak of pall , and face of darkest gloom ; and wherever that figure might take its stand , the spot would seem a sepulchre . He watched the mourners as they lowered the coffin down .
`` And so , '' said he to Adam XXXXX , with the strange smile in which his insanity was wont to gleam forth , `` you have found no better foundation for your happiness than on a grave ! ''
Fay Forrester Gascoigne Temple centre daily evening hours sepulchre sunbeams