A foreshadowing comment. Decoud, of course, does not return safe, and Nostromo gets no official reward. It is significant that Mrs Gould and Antonia are the ones making the promise, not Charles, who actually holds the pursestrings of the material interests and who, we remember, does not like Decoud. It is also bitterly revealing that the "gentlefolk" (including Mrs Gould!) should openly place such a higher value on Decoud's life to Nostromo's very face.