A Slap in the Farce and a Matter of Wife and Death

(Applause Books). An accidental grope on a dimly lit bus earns for the painter, Antoine, a slap whose force resounds around Labiche's wildly comic labyrinth, from which there is no escape, except, alas, for romance and marriage. In A Matter of Wife and Death, an eccentric millionaire, Tim van Lust, is perpetually frustrated in his super-passionate proposals of marriage. Van Lust's despair and an attempt at comical self-destruction, are short-lived, however, as fate and an unexpected telegram from America tie one knot while unravelling another.