I think there are HUGE cultural differences in terms of how veils are perceived in Europe and the Middle East, and this could very well be the source of a lot of miscommunication.
Firstly, as far as i’m aware, the concept of a ‘veil’ covering the face in Europe historically means a very, very fine white lace fabric through which you can still see the wearer’s face eg a white wedding veil. It is more of an ornament than any attempt to actually disguise features. Victorian women might have dressed all in black to show mourning (eg think Queen Victoria) and even might wear a black face veil to the funeral, but again it would have been be very, very fine and show the wearer’s face. So your Bronte character would not have been obscuring their face at all.
Showing one’s face and facial expressions to strangers (or alternatively hiding ones face if you pose a threat) is deeply embedded in English culture /psyche and the everyday interactions we have. To give an example of how this stems back to our medieval past- Have you ever heard of a man ‘doffing his cap’ OP? It’s a gesture which was commonly made by men for centuries where they would remove their hat and nod to a passing stranger as a sign of respect. Where did this gesture come from? It originates from knights (powerful, armed with a sword and the King’s authority) who would remove their helmets to a stranger to show their full face and demonstrate that they mean no harm - www.nobility.org/2016/04/28/etiquette-history-hat-tipping/
The practice of ‘doffing one’s cap’ might have finished, but showing one’s face, smiling at people who hold a door open to you/let you cross the road etc is part of our everyday subconscious interactions in the U.K. and Europe.
Conversely, I agree with PP who explained that hiding one’s face has deeply frightening gutteral connotations in British culture stemming back to ancient times. Our mythology and fairy tales paint frightening monsters dressed in black shrouds/cloaks with their faces partially/wholly obscured - eg the grim reaper (a terrifying image that was used throughout literary and religious history), witches dressed all in black casting evil spells, highway men murdering and robbing people. Horror films like Scream, Texas chainsaw massacre, silence of the lambs are more modern examples of evil spirits/violent psychopaths wearing masks to hide their intent that play on this mythology in our psyche to scare us. Unfortunately with the rise of Islamist terrorism, for many people’s subconscious, the niqab is the latest in a long line of dark, shadowy cloaks that signal ill will! We might tell our rational brains that the person under a niqab probably means us no harm, but our subconscious brain is saying otherwise!
What I understand from your posts is that, in your culture, the niqab is a symbol of a gentle, good soul who is religiously devout. Unfortunately this is unlikely to translate across to mainstream English culture unless the wearer makes a big effort to speak to strangers/make some sort of gesture to show they are friendly. The closest comparison in English religious history I can think of are the Anchorites in 13th century England. They devoted their lives to God living by ‘anchoring’ themselves to the church. By this I mean they lived their entire lives in a tiny room in the church with just a small window to the altar (to receive sacrament from the priest) and a small window to the outside world (to receive food from well wishers). They only left the church upon their death. They wore hair shirts to punish themselves for their sin, but, crucially they wore these under their clothes. They observed their religion by shutting themselves away from society, rather than moving within society covered. For more info see en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancrene_Wisse