Mr. Franklin shut up
ROBINSON CRUSOE, and floundered into his German-English gibberish on the
spot. "Why not look into it?" he said, as if I had personally objected
to looking into it. "Why the devil lose your patience, Betteredge, when
patience is all that's wanted to arrive at the truth? Don't interrupt
me. Rachel's conduct is perfectly intelligible, if you will only do her
the common justice to take the Objective view first, and the Subjective
view next, and the Objective-Subjective view to wind up with. What do we
know? We know that the loss of the Moonstone, on Thursday morning last,
threw her into a state of nervous excitement, from which she has not
recovered yet. Do you mean to deny the Objective view, so far? Very
well, then--don't interrupt me. Now, being in a state of nervous
excitement, how are we to expect that she should behave as she might
otherwise have behaved to any of the people about her? Arguing in this
way, from within-outwards, what do we reach? We reach the Subjective
view. I defy you to controvert the Subjective view. Very well then--what
follows? Good Heavens! the Objective-Subjective explanation follows, of
course! Rachel, properly speaking, is not Rachel, but Somebody Else.
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