The reason the falling inflection is here used is that the question is repeated with marked emphasis, and whenever a question is so repeated it should be given the falling inflection on the repetition.
The falling inflection should also be given all direct questions that are earnest appeals; as,
Will you please forgive me?
Direct Question. Undoubtedly the world is better; but would it have been better if everybody had then insisted that it was the best of all possible worlds, and that we must despond if sometimes a cloud gathers in the sky, or a Benedict Arnold appeared in the patriot army, or even a Judas Iscariot among the chosen twelve?
—George W. Curtis
Indirect Question. When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now?
—Cicero
A direct question is sometimes used in the form of a statement; as,
The constitutional question is: Has Congress the power, under our Constitution, to hold in subjection unwilling vassal states?
—George F. Hoar