Napoleon, as you know, rushed from Italy to Paris after the battle of Marengo with alarming celerity.

Those who know the secret history of that time are well aware that a message from Lucien brought him back.

The minister of the interior had foreseen the attitude of the Montagnard party, and though he had no idea of the quarter from which the wind really blew, he feared a storm.

Incapable of suspecting the three ministers and Carnot, he attributed the movement which stirred all France to the hatred his brother had excited by the 18th Brumaire, and to the confident belief of the men of 1793 that defeat was certain in Italy.
"The battle of Marengo detained Napoleon on the plains of Lombardy until the 25th of June, but he reached Paris on the 2nd of July.

Imagine the faces of the five conspirators as they met the First Consul at the Tuileries, and congratulated him on the victory.