I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed.
Jane’s bluntness slices through the forced politeness of her childhood home. She opposes “deceitful” and “declare” to show the moral difference between lying and plain speech. The sentence is shocking because a dependent child is not supposed to judge her guardian. Yet the force of it comes from earned truth, not mere sass. This is the seed of the adult Jane’s ethical clarity. The line also explains why later flattery never sways her: she learned early to trust what is real. For readers, it models how honesty can be both sharp and cleansing. Sometimes justice sounds like a child who finally stops nodding.