she 'd stay , too , until he went inside . in the very center of the sphere stood ( stood ! ) and i did what i came to do . she spoke softly , the way she might have spoken to a nervous cat . he turned his head to the voice . he 's left for the day , i 'm afraid . '' none of them were at home ; they were hard at work already . then out i come and i guess they were too lazy or too unconcerned to change it . '' 