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.

Mr. De Bon.
It is not to an advocate that you must apply; for they are very particular on this point and think it a great crime to bestow one's property contrary to the law. They are people to make difficulties, and are ignorant of the bylaws of conscience. There are others whom you may consult with advantage on that point, and who have expedients for gently overriding the law, and for rendering just that which is not allowed. These know how to smooth over the difficulties of an affair, and to find the means of eluding custom by some indirect advantage. Without that, what would become of us every day? We must make things easy; otherwise we should do nothing, and I wouldn't give a penny for our business.

ARG.
My wife had rightly told me, Sir, that you were a very clever and honest man. What can I do, pray, to give her my fortune and deprive my children of it?
Mr. De Bon.
What you can do? You can discreetly choose a friend of your wife, to whom you will give all you own in due form by your will, and that friend will give it up to her afterwards; or else you can sign a great many safe bonds in favour of various creditors who will lend their names to your wife, and in whose hands they will leave a declaration that what was done was only to serve her. You can also in your lifetime put in her hands ready money and bills which you can make payable to bearer.

BEL.
Alas! you must not trouble yourself about all that. If I lose you, my child, I will stay no longer in the world.

ARG.
My darling!

BEL.
Yes, my pet, if I were unfortunate enough to lose you …

ARG.
My dear wifey!

BEL.
Life would be nothing to me.

ARG.
My love!

BEL.
And I would follow you to the grave, to show you all the tenderness I feel for you.

ARG.
You will break my heart, deary; comfort yourself, I beseech you.
Mr. De Bon.
(to BÉLINE). These tears are unseasonable; things have not come to that yet.

BEL.
Ah, Sir! you don't know what it is to have a husband one loves tenderly.

ARG.
All the regret I shall have, if I die, my darling, will be to have no child from you. Mr. Purgon told me he would make me have one.

Mr. De Bon.
That may come still.

ARG.
I must make my will, deary, according to what this gentleman advises; but, out of precaution, I will give you the twenty thousand francs in gold which I have in the wainscoting of the recess of my room, and two bills payable to bearer which are due to me, one from Mr. Damon, the other from Mr. Géronte.

BEL.
No, no! I will have nothing to do with all that. Ah! How much do you say there is in the recess?

ARG.
Twenty thousand francs, darling.

BEL.
Don't speak to me of your money, I beseech you. Ah! How much are the two bills for?

ARG.
One, my love, is for four thousand francs, and the other for six thousand.
BEL.
All the wealth in the world, my soul, is nothing to me compared to you.

Mr.
de Bon. (to Argan). Shall we draw up the will?

ARG.
Yes, Sir. But we shall be more comfortable in my own little study. Help me, my love.

BEL.
Come, my poor, dear child.