Reggie Vliet and Sandra Vanderveer want to marry, but Colonel Vanderveer refuses his
permission on the basis that Reggie’s family is not of the same standing as the
long-established Vanderveers. So Reggie sets out to take down the Vanderveers in the times of
Waterloo and the Civil War.
O’Brien was a prolific author who died in action during World
War II at age 26.
“Supposing,” he wondered, “that those two old ducks in the pictures on the walls
hadn’t been famous?”