Paul doesn’t have any particular aim in life and Mathilde, who has to oversee the running of their household, has given up hope of him ever finding one. If things continue like this, there’s every chance she’ll walk out on him.
So Paul decides to come up with something, something that will give him an aim in life, an idea that will bring him fame and fortune, without tiring him out too much, and that will make Mathilde love him again. And so he invents a ‘handle’ – a simple, but brilliant idea.