After these words he left me in the room with his men, who, dazzling my eyes with the points of their spikes, kept me in awe till his return. If the hostess, who I had good reason to suspect had been the inventor of this piece of roguery, had been present then, I should have eased my mind by calling her all the names she deserved; but to avoid my reproaches, she had taken flight at the sight of the blood-hounds of justice. I was not altogether without uneasiness about the conferences held in the apartments of my adversaries. I could not place sufficient confidence in the fidelity of my agent to believe him more in my interest than in that of the ladies. However, he acted fairly on the occasion, obliging them to be contented with a hundred pistoles, of which he had twenty for his own share. I thanked my stars that I had got off so cheaply; I left the inn never to return to it, and repaired to my own house, very happy that the adventure had been hushed up with so little noise. CHAP. XLVIII. _Guzman pays his addresses to the Banker’s Daughter, and marries her: consequences of this marriage._ As soon as I had got rid of Helena, her mother and the hostess, I devoted myself entirely to my new amour, and thought of nothing else but to become the son-in-law of Don Andrea, who, on his side, fearing that I should embark in some new intrigue, had no less impatience to give me his daughter than I to obtain her. I went the very next day to the Banker’s house, who kept me to dinner, towards the end of which my intended bride appeared, as if by chance; I rose immediately to pay my respects to her, and express the agreeable surprise her presence excited in me. She returned my compliments with a modest air, and would have retired, but her father prevented her. Eugenia, said he to her, stay with us; this gentleman is my friend, and I am happy to let him have a proof of it by giving you leave to converse with him. I did not fail to thank him for so great a favour, with which I was quite delighted, and more so indeed than I really appeared to be. I then entered into conversation with Eugenia, and to increase my joy, Don Andrea, under pretence of writing some letters, retired to a corner of the drawing room, to leave us more to ourselves.