There is an element of mother-love in the devotion which some women give to men.
In the first instance it had opened the door of Rachel's heart to Hugh, and had gradually merged, with other feelings, and deepened into the painful love of a woman not in her first youth for a man of whom she is not sure.
Rachel was not sure of Hugh.

Of his love for her she was sure, but not of the man himself, the gentle, refined, lovable nature that mutely worshipped and clung to her.

She could not repulse him any more than she could repulse a child.

But through all her knowledge of him--the knowledge of love, the only true knowledge of our fellow-creatures--a thread of doubtful anxiety was interwoven.

She could form some idea how men like Dick, Lord Newhaven, or the Bishop would act in given circumstances, but she could form no definite idea how Hugh would act in the same circumstances.