La Fayette could not believe that he was supplanted.

The national guard, which yet remained attached to him, still credited his omnipotence,--all these men and all these parties lent M.de Narbonne secret support.

A courtier in the eyes of the court, an aristocrat in the eyes of the nobility, a soldier in the eyes of the army, one of the people in the eyes of the people, irresistible in the eyes of the women, he was the minister of public hope.

The Girondists alone had an _arriere-pensee_ in their apparent favour towards him.

They elevated him to make his fall the more conspicuous: M.de Narbonne was to them but the hand which prepared the way for their advent.
IV.
Scarcely had he taken his place in the cabinet, than this young minister displayed all the activity, frankness, and grace of his character in the discussion of affairs, and his intercourse with the Assembly.