24 THE LADY IN THE TREEDuring the months leading up to New Year, Lek and Ayr were gliding into their new political roles with amazing ease, and so came to rely increasingly more on Gail, their new, permanent under manageress. She was proving to be the great asset that they had thought she might be. Lek loved her new responsibilities as Pu Yai Baan of her ward and she particularly enjoyed helping her constituents sort out their problems and found it difficult to understand why Boss had not got the same feeling of fulfillment from doing his job well.
Lek learned quickly under Nic’s tutelage. He had always liked her in a special way even when they were in school and it was no secret from Jan, because they had all known each other for so long. They all also knew that nothing would ever ‘happe
