"Well, major, and how did you pass the night?" asked the colonel, anxiously.
"Famously," replied Stanley. "I slept like a top, as I told you I should."
"Then, thank Heaven, the spell is broken at last," said the colonel, "and the White Phantom has ceased to haunt the Green Chamber."
"By no means," said the major, smiling; "the White Phantom paid me a visit last night, and left me a token of the honor."
"A token!" exclaimed the father and daughter in a breath.
"Yes, my friends, and here it is." And the major handed the ring to the old gentleman.
"What's the meaning of this, Julia?" exclaimed the colonel. "This ring I gave you last week!"
Julia uttered a faint cry, and turned deadly pale.
"The mystery is easily explained," said the major. "The young lady is a sleep-walker. She came into my room before I had retired, utterly unconscious of her actions. I took the ring from her hand, that I might be able to convince you and her of the reality of what I had witnessed."
The major's business was not pressing, and he readily yielded to the colonel's urgent request to pass a few days with him. Their mutual liking increased upon better acquaintance, and in a few weeks the White Phantom's ring, inscribed with the names of Rupert Stanley and Julia Rogers, served as the sacred symbol of their union for life.