et?" said Ben,
breaking in upon the pause in the conversation. "There's one of the old
gang out there. We cawn't 'ave Barney, but you'd do in his place, an' I
guess we could make things hump a bit. W'en the gang gits a goin' things
begin to hum. You remember that day down at the 'Old King's' w'en me an'
Barney an' Dick--"

"Och! Ben lad," said Mrs. Boyle, "Margaret will be hearing that story
many's the time. But what would you be doing in an hospital?"

"Me? I hain't goin' fer to work in no 'ospital! I'm goin' to look after
Miss Margaret. She wants someone to look after her, don't she?"

"Aye, that she does," remarked Mrs. Boyle, with such emphasis that
Margaret flushed as she cried, "Not I! My business is to look after
other people."

But the more the matter was discussed the clearer it became that
Margaret's work lay at Kuskinook, and further, that she could not do
better than take Ben along to "look after her," as he put it. Hence,
before the year had gone, all through the Windermere and Crow's Nest
valleys the fame of the Lady of Kuskinook grew great, and second only to
hers was that of her bodyguard, the hospital orderly, Ben Fallows.
And indeed, Ben's usefulness was freely acknowledged by both staff
and patients; for by day or by night he was ever ready to skip off on
errands of mercy, his wooden leg clicking a vigorous tattoo to his rapid
movements. He was especially proud of that wooden leg, a combination of
joints and springs so wonderful that he was often heard to lament the
clumsiness of the other leg in comparison.

"W'en it comes to legs," Ben would say, "this 'ere's the machine fer me.
It never gits rheumatism in the joints, nor corns on the toes, an' yeh
cawn't freeze it with forty below."

As Ben grew in fame so he grew in dignity and in solemn and serious
appreciation of himself, and of his position in the hospital. The
institution became to him not simply a thing of personal pride, but an
object of reverent regard. To Ben's mind, taking it all in all, it stood
unique among all similar institutions in the Dominion. While, as for the
matron, as he watched her at her work his wonder grew and, with it,
a love amounting to worship. In his mind she dwelt apart as something
sacred, and to serve her and to guard her became a religion with Ben. In
fact, the Glory of the Kuskinook hospital lay chiefly in this, that
it afforded a sphere in which his divinity might exercise her various
powers and graces.