"Who can tell!" in All the Year Round [Text]

This is the last paragraph of The Moonstone, as it appears in All the Year Round. I will mention again that the British version uses an exclamation point instead of a question mark in the last line of the novel, the effect of which is that the tone of the British version is more certain than the American version. This exclamation point seems to put to rest the story of The Moonstone: Collins frames the last line not as a question to the audience (“you can tell”), as is the case in Harper’s Weekly, but as an exclamatory statement, which necessarily excludes the audience (“no one can tell”). Collins simultaneously creates a carefree tone that implies future, unknown adventure. “Who can tell!” in the British version inspires readers to throw their arms up into the air, and leave The Moonstone on a contentedly mysterious note, not to seek moral enlightenment, as with the American version.