It later appeared in Hawthorne's final collection of short stories The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, published in 1852 by Ticknor, Reed & Fields.
Richard Digby, who believes his philosophy on life is the correct one, refuses to share his ideas with anyone else.
One day, the spirit of Mary Goffe appears before him, and she asks Digby to return to mankind.
She asks him to drink from the fountain and to let her read the Bible alongside him, and then his heart will be cured of its ailment.
On September 10, 1841, he responded to her criticism and mentioned, "I recollect that the Man of Adamant seemed a fine idea to me... but I failed in giving shape and substance to the vision which I saw.