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Show Page 153 "It turns those who eat it into fools," she explained. "You'll not be picking it again I'll wager." "Indeed not," said Rose, though there was a chuckle in her voice and she was smirking when Walter and Richard hefted Edward up and followed her home through the trees. For three days more Edward would suddenly appear, to curvet and somersault through the fields, to burst forth with loud, raucous noises. Someone suggested he be purged to rid him of the black and yellow bile that was certainly causing him to act so, but we had no surgeon and no one offered to give him the feverroot or administer a clyster, so no action was taken on that idea. Harwood at one time thought of having him confined in the storehouse, but since he did no harm, and was, in fact, most amusing, he was allowed to wander at will, though one of the younger boys was always with him to make certain he did not get lost in the forest or come to harm. On the third day the spell of the weed wore off and Edward went shuffling homeward, his head drawn down between his shoulders like a turtle pulling into its shell, his eyes fixed upon the ground before him. "It was nice of Edward to amuse us for a time," I said to Twig that evening, "though I do hope Rose does not feed him James Towne weed again soon." "She was likely trying to poison him," said Twig, ever eager to condemn Rose. "I fancy she is right sorry her plan |