If you bench bled it then it dangling sounds like a problem...Are you sure when you put the master back in that the pushrod was in the booster and it was making contact with the hydraulic piston in the master? You should encounter some resistance. Not to be smart or anything...but after you hooked it up to the booster...you didnt pump the brakes did you? You would have spit out fluid and sucked in air if the lines weren't installed.

AFAIK, there is a spring pulling the brake pedal back in to the raised position.