Mignon

M. JULIEN FLAUBERT plodded homeward on feet that lagged • because their destination held no element of pleasant anticipation or even mild interest for their owner. The feet would bear him across the square, down four blocks to 23 Rue Heidelberg, and up fourteen steps to the flat he had taken in one of the more imposing apartment houses of downtown Paris. Once inside the feet would be caressed and purred over by Mignon, the female cat, and indeed the only female resident of M. Flaubert\u27s flat. There was no Marie or Josette or Emilie to greet her breadwinner with an embrace and an aroma of simmering pot roast drifting from the shining enamel kitchen at 23 Rue Heidelberg. There was only Mignon, who, being unable to open her coveted nightly tin of salmon herself, was therefore obliged to caress and cajole one 1110refamiliar with the mechanics of can opener and can