mike felt that he alone demonstrated no defining worth - for even the old lady , have gained if nothing else an education by association all those years living in the company of this man they would never meet , displayed if nothing else a business mind of fairly astonishing shrewdness - and yet , like any other task hed been paid to complete from the age of fifteen onward , he could allow that he was a reasonably fast study , reliable , went to almost monkish depths of devotion in focusing upon a job at hand ( which probably bespoke his lack of imagination , creative bent , and most certainly any sort of genius , that he couldnt just backhand his way through activities the way others , like amy , apparently managed every day ) , and took whatever was assigned him with utmost gravity .