1)general atmosphere

a)

As we are told that "they had slipped on the sheet of ice which glazed the causeway" , it is defini­tely wintertime.

It must be late afternoon, since it is said that "Something of daylight still lingered, and the moon was waxing bright...".

b)irony

the scene suggests comedy, of the kind which today would be called "slaps­tick humour".

Indeed, in such a romantic setting, with a lonely woman in remote countryside, the arrival of a solitary horseman would normally be treated with considerable gravity.

But Charlotte Brontë does not indul­ge in such clichés, and the scene is a typical deflation scene.

IRONY:

There is irony when: there is a contrast between what is said and what is actually taking place ( through exaggeration or understatement) a character is inflated (made bigger than he really is) because the author intends to deflate him (like a punctured balloon) sooner or later, a protagonist in a story does not realize what is about to happen to him, or is happening to him, while other characters know, or while the reader knows.

c)

Even before we can get a chance to be impressed by the male character, we are made to smile slightly at his discomfiture, especially as the narra­tor takes great care to indicate that he is not seriously hurt.

The expression "what the deuce!" is exactly what a farcical character would utter in a comedy scene.

The trend seems to continue well into the passage, firstly with the euphemistic remark by the narrator, : "I think he was swearing, but am not certain; however, he was pronouncing some formula which pre­vented him from replying to me directly...", then with the description of how both man and mount get back onto their feet, : "whereupon began a heaving, stamping, clattering process, accompanied by a barking and baying which removed me effectually some yards' distance".

The word "whereupon", a common device to announce comic relief in fairy tales,