If we may credit the _embarras de mensonges_ which has been dignified by the name of Barras' "Memoirs," Josephine once fled to his house and flung herself at his knees, begging to be taken away from her husband; but the story is exploded by the moral which the relator clumsily tacks on, as to the good advice which he gave her.[126] While Bonaparte seems to have found no grounds for suspecting Barras on this score, he yet discovered his intrigues with various malcontents; and he saw that Barras, holding the balance of power in the Directory between the opposing pairs of colleagues, was intriguing to get the highest possible price for the betrayal of the Directory and of the constitution of 1795.
For Sieyes the general felt dislike but respect.

He soon saw the advantage of an alliance with so learned a thinker, so skilful an intriguer, and so weak a man.

It was, indeed, necessary; for, after making vain overtures to Gohier for the alteration of the law which excluded from the Directory men of less than forty years of age, the general needed the alliance of Sieyes for the overthrow of the constitution.

In a short space he gathered around him the malcontents whom the frequent crises had deprived of office, Roederer, Admiral Bruix, Real, Cambaceres, and, above all, Talleyrand.

The last-named; already known for his skill in diplomacy, had special reasons for favouring the alliance of Bonaparte and Sieyes: he had been dismissed from the Foreign Office in the previous month of July because in his hands it had proved to be too lucrative to the holder and too expensive for France.