CLASS DAY

“Almost everyone loves a parade,” said Fordney to his students at the University “…and I am no exception!

“There is nothing quite so colorful as the pomp and ceremony attending the review of his Britannic Majesty’s troops on the Royal birthday. A few years ago, before the war, I was fortunate enough to witness this magnificent spectacle while visiting Shepart of Scotland Yard.

“We had a box next to the Royal Family. I thrilled as the troops approached. My old friend Colonel Lawton, at the head of the Coldstream Guards, looked every inch the British soldier as he passed, controlling with a strong right arm his nervous, prancing, coal-black steed. As they came abreast, King George smiled his approval and at the same moment the Queen, turning slightly, nodded to me in recognition. Shepart whispered, ‘You should feel mighty flattered, old man! Two years ago, wasn’t it, when you met Her Majesty?’

“I nodded and assured him that had I not been in his company she probably would never have remembered me. At the time I had the honor of being presented, Shepart had just completed a most delicate undertaking for Her Highness. As we were leaving the box, after the review, an attendant hastened to my side and said, ‘Professor Fordney, Her Majesty would like…’”

“No doubt, sir,” interrupted Jim Barry with an affectionate grin, “you did make quite an impression on the Queen! But you’re testing our observational powers again, sir!”

The criminologist laughed. “You’re improving, my boy. Go ahead, tell the class the simple flaw of common knowledge I injected into my story.”

Quickly now—what was it? Turn page for solution.