The chapter opens with a soliloquy by Polonius, in which he laments the fact that he has been unable to purge the evil spirits from his life. Polonius wonders if it is strange that he should have to purge his life's evil spirits ahead of time. He wonders if he should pay upfront for the evil-reversal card. He also wonders why he has not received his rental deposit back, his pension payments, or his refund of the loan he took out. He then wonders how many secret societies there are out there, and wonders if the woman is also doing the same thing. He concludes that there are no such societies, and that the man in the mask must be fighting against an "existent" illness. He goes on to say that there must be "harmful sub stances" in the world, such as the shadowboxing of matsuzaka, the freemason's conspiracy, the "blair witch project," and the Spanish prosecution of witches.