"Mrs. Millicent Cuthbert has arrived, Mr. Holmes, sir."
"Thank you, Mrs. Hudson," Sherlock Holmes nodded at his landlady and bounded up the stairs, followed by his close friend, Dr. John Watson.
Outside his newly acquired living quarters, he paused with one ear to the door. After two minutes exactly, he nodded to his companion and pushed the wooden structure open.
"Mrs. Cuthbert, I presume?" He extended his hand.
His visitor made to rise from the chair she had been sitting in, but was detained from doing so.
"Please, do not trouble yourself," her host soothed her. "You have come a long way, and are suffering a great loss. Dr. Watson, some water for our esteemed guest, if you please."
"Certainly." The older man went over to the sideboard and poured a glass of clear liquid which he then brought to their distraught caller.
Sipping delicately, Millicent calmed herself. Readjusting her hat to give her an unobstructed view of the men whose abode she was in, she began her story. "I apologise for appearing unannounced. I hope I have not prevented you from doing anything important."
Sherlock waved away her apologies. "Please just relax and tell us your story. In the meantime, if you would be so good as to inform me which hansom cab you employed to get you here, I will have my assistant arrange to have it retired from service until the upholstery is repaired. Don't worry, we will ensure you are returned to your lodgings at Bevalee Brooke before your husband returns from his business meeting. You must be looking forward to having him back after such a great length of time. What is it, about two months that he has been away?"
"Yes," the woman replied, her eyes wide as she stared at the detective. She had heard he was good. She just didn't realise he was that good. "How did you know?"
"That is not important," was the abrupt answer. "The cab information, if you please."
Shortly thereafter, John Watson departed on his errand.
Up in his lodgings, Sherlock Holmes stood in front of the fireplace and regarded his visitor. "If you are ready, please tell me why you have sought me out today. How can I help you? It is concerning the great loss I mentioned before, I presume."
Millicent began to wring her hands and tears appeared on her cheeks. "My cat won't come near me anymore," she wailed. Looking up at her tall listener in dismay.
Sherlock swallowed his incredulity along with his sudden intense desire to send the woman on her way immediately. "I am not a veterinarian, Mrs. Cuthbert. Animal husbandry is not my forte."
"Do you honestly think my cat is ill?" Millicent wiped her eyes vigorously. "I was hoping that there would be another explanation, one that could be easily remedied without having to resort to medical intervention."
"It is possible," Sherlock conceded. "Please proceed."
"Clementine has always been a very personable cat. She would always greet me and my husband whenever either of us returned home. Whenever I sat down, she would jump onto my lap and go to sleep. She would never leave our company unless she was forced to." She smiled contentedly. "Everything was normal up until yesterday afternoon. I returned home after being away overnight. Clementine came into the room and immediately left again! The same thing happened many times until I retired to bed last night, and then again this morning. It is like seeing me yesterday altered her character to the point where she is unrecognisable."
"Let's start at the beginning," Sherlock instructed, coming to sit in a chair alongside his visitor. "What does Clementine look like?"
"She is white."
There was a substantial silence before the detective realised he wasn't going to get any more information freely. "Does she have any distinctive markings? How tall is she? What is her length? Is her hair short or long, straight or curly?"
He wasn't at all surprised when all he got as an answer was a bewildered look. Really, the public of London weren't at all observant. But this woman seemed to be the worst of all of them. "Did anything change while you were away? Any changes in household staff? Was the cat's food altered in any way? Were any new animals introduced?" He received a negative shake of the head for every question. "Then the next step is to visit the scene. Excuse me while I inform my landlady where I am going, and hail a cab."
Within three hours, the couple were standing outside the Cuthbert's small cottage. Millicent straightened her posture and entered the house. Within seconds, a white cat appeared at her feet.
Tail broken at the tip and sitting upwards at a thirty seven degree angle, left eye bigger than the right, left ear lower than the right, and her hair is long and straight, Sherlock observed. All things that I would consider distinct markings. Then he took a second look. No, his hair is long and straight. It took no more than ten seconds for Clementine to vacate the room. That was long enough for the visitor to peruse the ornately furnished room.
"Mrs. Cuthbert?"
Millicent shook herself out of her trance and turned toward the detective. "Yes, Mr. Holmes?"
"May I have a use of some paper and writing instruments?"
"If it will help me get my Clementine back." She went to a writing desk and removed the required items, ready for her visitor to use. He sat down and wrote intensely. Carefully drying the paper, he folded it and passed it over. "Follow these instructions. Clementine will be back in your arms within twenty four hours. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return for my evening meal."
Back at his lodgings in London, he found John lounging with a drink of whiskey in his hand.
"Did you find out what ailed the cat?"
Sherlock chuckled as he picked up his violin. "Apart from a severely unobservant owner? She didn't even know her cat is actually a male! And his problem? He is allergic to his mistress' perfume. All she has to do change back to her original scent and wait for the new one to totally disappear. Clementine will be back in her arms within twenty four hours, I'll wager."
The doctor's hearty laugh mingling with the detective's haunting music brought to a close one of Sherlock Holmes' most interesting cases to date.