I should know he
would be a substantial friend to his college classmate and business
partner."
"He's much more than that." Benson's slow and languid speech took on a
more earnest tone. "Do you know, I think if any young man in this city
has been misjudged and underrated it's Rich. I know the reputation you
speak of; it's another way of calling a man a spendthrift, to say he's
free with his money among his friends. But I don't believe anybody knows
how free Rich Kendrick is with it among people who have no claim on him.
I never should have known if I hadn't come here. One of my nurses has
told me a lot of things she wasn't supposed ever to tell; but once she
had let a word drop I got it out of her. Why, Louis, for three years
Rich has paid the expenses of every sick child that came into this
hospital, where the family was too poor to pay. He's paid for several
big operations, too, on children that he wanted to see have the best.
There are four special private rooms he keeps for those they call his
patients, and he sees that whoever occupies them has everything they
need--and plenty of things they may not just need, but are bound to
enjoy--including flowers like those.
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