This is another inadvertent reference by a character to Dr Monygham's disgrace, like the story of the cavern of banditti in Chapter 3-1 . Monygham, we shall learn later, gave in to torture and attempted to fool Guzman Bento, arguably "the greatest blackguard on earth," by blackening his friends' characters in a false confession. Note that Monygham's next utterance, following this reminder, is made "grimly."

On a deeper level, as the allegory of cynicism Monygham is on a constant campaign to blacken the notion of character, insisting that men act from the lowest motives and that the self "is the last thing a man ought to be sure of."