This remarkble series of stammers contains nothing less than the novel's attempt
to define truth. The first word to go is "reason," implying a world
of objective reference, replaced by "sense," which subtly implies "subjective
perception." Decoud then tries to clarify truth as "effective truth,"
by which he seems to mean "truth as it affects the unique subjective soul,"
something that cannot apply to politics or journalism because they deal in the
illusion of cooperative unity. The end result is a somewhat lame finish presented
defiantly: "I happen to have said what I thought"; i.e., she should
respect him because he spoke from the heart, which means from a standpoint of
pure subjectivity, not unlike her touted idealism.