How does the past affect the story in this chapter?

I don't see anything in my copy of the novel that alludes to the past affecting the story. In this chapter, an inspector visits the prison. Dante's takes advantage of this visit to insist upon hearing the charges against him and demanding that he be tried. Villefort comes up in conversation and isdescribed as someone who has been kind. This is an untruth, but Dantes doesn't know this yet.