I really did not expect any Grace to answer; for the laugh was as tragic, as preternatural a laugh as any I ever heard; and, but that it was high noon, and that no circumstance of ghostliness accompanied the curious cachinnation; but that neither scene nor season favoured fear, I should have been superstitiously afraid.
Chapter 11 · Narrator
Context
Still shaken by the laugh, Jane reflects on why she didn't feel truly afraid despite its eerie quality, attributing her calm to the mundane context of daylight and the absence of any ghostly atmosphere.
Analysis
Jane's double negative construction—'but that it was high noon… but that neither scene nor season favoured fear'—creates a syntax of rational self-correction, as if she is talking herself out of a superstitious response. The learned term 'cachinnation' (meaning loud, unrestrained laughter) signals Jane's education and her attempt to impose intellectual control over an experience that resists it. Yet the final clause admits what she's trying to suppress: 'I should have been superstitiously afraid,' acknowledging that her rational explanations are a defense against instinctive terror, not proof that the terror is unjustified.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Jane's narration is unreliable not because she lies, but because she rationalizes—she talks herself out of fear using logic, but the excess effort she expends doing so reveals that her instincts are picking up on danger her conscious mind refuses to acknowledge.