was
therefore with no little mortification and uneasiness that he noted that
gentleman's disapprobation of the trend of public affairs and his own
course of action. Indeed, Mr. Morris was seriously alarmed lest the
glory which the young Marquis had won in America should be dimmed by his
career in his own country. Believing in his high-mindedness and
patriotism, he yet questioned his political astuteness and his ability
to guide the forces which he had so powerfully helped to set in motion
by his call for the States-General. Fully alive to his great qualities,
he yet deplored a certain indecision of character and an evident thirst
for fame.

Something of all this Mr. Morris expressed to Mr. Jefferson and Mr.
Calvert one evening when the Marquis had retired after an hour's
animated conversation on the all-engrossing subject of politics, during
which he had given the three gentlemen an account of his campaign in
Auvergne. But Mr. Jefferson, being in entire sympathy with Lafayette's
ideas, could not agree at all with Mr. Morris's estimate of him and
would listen to no strictures on him, except, indeed, the imputation of
ambition, which Mr. Jefferson acknowledged amounted to "a canine thirst
for fame," as he himself wrote General Washington. Though Mr. Jefferson
and Mr. Morris differed so widely respecting the Marquis's genius, Mr.
Morris still clung to his opinion, so that Madame de Lafayette, with
wifely jealousy and feminine intuition, perceiving something of his
mental attitude toward her husband, received him but coldly when he
called with Calvert to pay his respects at the hotel on the Quai du
Louvre. So marked was the disapproval of her manner, that Mr. Morris,
being both amused and annoyed, could not forbear recounting his
reception to Mr. Jefferson, who enjoyed a good laugh at his expense
and, as it seemed to Calvert, took a certain satisfaction in his rebuff.

"She gave me the tips of her fingers to kiss," said Mr. Morris,
laughing, "gazing over my head the while and smiling at this young
gentleman, on whom she lavished every attention, though she had never a
word for me!" and he sighed in mock distress and looked affectionately
at Mr. Calvert. He had become very fond of the young gentleman in the
few weeks they had been together in Paris, and was always anxious to
introduce him to his acquaintances, of whom he already had an
astonishing number. Mr. Jefferson, being busily occupied with public
matters, insisted o