by Alan Townendhad made up his mind to break away from the others who were
simply asking the members of the two families polite questions. He
devised a plan which he was sure would work.
Christmas was approaching and the schoolchildren had broken up for
the holidays and this gave Andrew an ideal opportunity to talk to
Maggie's younger brother to find out what the two families were
doing on Christmas Day. As usual they would spend Christmas
together but the unhappy couple were not going to talk to each
other. On Christmas evening Andrew dressed up in a Father
Christmas outfit broke in upon their festivities, succeeded in making
everyone laugh and after a few drinks Dave divulged the reason for
the break-up. As always in these situations, the explanation was very
simple: Maggie had accused him of being a coward because he had
refused to take part in a charity parachute jump. In all honesty Dave
broke out in a sweat at the very idea of jumping but had stuck to his
guns and declined the offer. Being called a coward was just the last
straw and it was he who had broken off the engagement.
Armed with this information together with Dave's help Andrew put
his plan into action. Now, it so happened that Maggie owned a horse
which had been broken in but was still a bit wild. Early next day,
Boxing Day just as the sun was breaking out, a loud bang was heard
at the back of Maggie's house apparently near the stable. As
everyone was very sleepy, little notice was taken. Within an hour
Andrew was banging on the family house asking for Maggie. He told
her that her favourite horse had broken out of its stable and run
away but Dave fearlessly had rescued it from drowning in the river
with waves breaking over him and was on his way back with the
animal. Miraculously Dave now earned himself the title hero instead
of coward and the wedding was on again. Joy broke out in the village
at the news and the local paper was full of the story together with
graphic pictures of the rescue. The editor broke off talking at a
meeting to congratulate Andrew on another scoop. Mrs. Swenderbin
was delighted too and resumed collecting ingredients for the cake.