ARG. (_rising angrily, and throwing the pillows after_ TOINETTE, _who runs away_). Ah, wretch! you want to smother me. SCENE VIII.—ARGAN, BÉLINE. BEL. Now, now; what is it again? ARG. (_throwing himself in his chair_). Ah! I can hold out no longer. BEL. But why do you fly into such a passion? she thought she was doing right. ARG. You don’t know, darling, the wickedness of that villainous baggage. She has altogether upset me, and I shall want more than eight different mixtures and twelve injections to remedy the evil. BEL. Come, come, my dearie, compose yourself a little. ARG. Lovey, you are my only consolation. BEL. Poor little pet! ARG. To repay you for all the love you have for me, my darling, I will, as I told you, make my will. BEL. Ah, my soul! do not let us speak of that, I beseech you. I cannot bear to think of it, and the very word “will” makes me die of grief. ARG. I had asked you to speak to our notary about it. BEL. There he is, close at hand; I have brought him with me. ARG. Make him come in then, my life! BEL. Alas! my darling, when a woman loves her husband so much, she finds it almost impossible to think of these things. SCENE IX.—MR. DE BONNEFOI, BÉLINE, ARGAN. ARG. Come here, Mr. de Bonnefoi, come here. Take a seat, if you please. My wife tells me, Sir, that you are a very honest man, and altogether one of her friends; I have therefore asked her to speak to you about a will which I wish to make. BEL. Alas! I cannot speak of those things. MR. DE BON. She has fully explained to me your intentions, Sir, and what you mean to do for her. But I have to tell you that you can give nothing to your wife by will. ARG. But why so? MR. DE BON. It is against custom. If you were in a district where statute law prevailed, the thing could be done; but in Paris, and in almost all places governed by custom, it cannot be done; and the will would be held void. The only settlement that man and wife can make on each other is by mutual donation while they are alive, and even then there must be no children from either that marriage or from any previous marriage at the decease of the first who dies. ARG. It’s a very impertinent custom that a husband can leave nothing to a wife whom he loves, by whom he is tenderly loved, and who takes so much care of him. I should like to consult my own advocate to see what I can do.