You must stay and have tea with me , Jed . I 'm all alone now -- Mother and Father have gone . Unhitch your horse and put him in the third stall in the stable . '' Jed hesitated . `` I ought to be getting on , I s ` pose , '' he said wistfully . `` I hai n't done much today -- '' `` You must stay to tea , '' interrupted Mattie . `` Why , Jed , there 's ever so much to tell and ask . And we ca n't stand here in the yard and talk . Look at Selena . There she is , watching us from the kitchen window . She 'll watch as long as we stand here . '' Jed swung himself around . Over the little valley below the Adams homestead was a steep , treeless hill , and on its crest was perched a bare farmhouse with windows stuck lavishly all over it . At one of them a long , pale face was visible . `` Has Selena been pasted up at that window ever since the last time we stood here and talked , Mattie ? '' asked Jed , half resentfully , half amusedly . It was characteristic of Mattie to laugh first at the question , and then blush over the memory it revived . `` Most of the time , I guess , '' she said shortly . `` But come -- come in . I never could talk under Selena 's eyes , even if they were four hundred yards away . ''
Jed went XXXXX and stayed to tea .
Over as at if in of since to under with