Show WG RANG VENGEANCE mr by efti e says bays an eastern proverb is itei ged blade which cuts the hand band at SIL 1 6 a city so vast that many ida sa 2 happen therein and not W but vengeance is had by inhabitant upon another in III london londo ii is different in revenge in corsica but it is luite as el Lec tive even t keep within the liw law in intire i L ity tiry it Y of 0 two tivo men each of himself upon the 1 stealthily v hila bila pret to ls lit hit frie nils s frier friend the illy P an anvor avoyne fou e alipy of b returning churnin far se ret acl C in L both th caks the revenge atcy rt act cy Y contrary to what W it at f fin U t A an living Is what wha t we call I 1 a wc C lui but IC cv it As it alic C M math th acen are arc against th tho rs 1 lit V 01 nici ting tho the ri right lit wonna on D 17 her so w in Z a II lesser zer e rc C art are aint yint ii a in mn n city tilt occur lion that thattis is the rou round n pegs a are el cr itally getting into the square holes when a square peg gets into a square hio antl fits wo 0 ahny Y in our blindness that tho lies ilea is a genius I 1 11 I 1 iiii ini perversity helps the tha mathe cliance chance to prevent the pegs getting eting idab iu to the right riff lit places thesbe the suc tra tragedian edian invariably thinks uni thal his hi forte asti islow low comedy and the renowned comedian imagines that if lie he lint but had the chance ho he could play 1111 I 1 frederick trigg wanted to be a successful cessa til novelist a vocation for which lie was utterly un unsuited cited writing was his forte hut but not the writing of novels lie ile hail bail the critical faculty strongly dove developed ve loped and had a style of lils his owa which ultimately led him as every one knows into the very front fron trank of english critics iut but tile the circumstances seemingly adverse at the time and the result of the meanest treachery which guided the square footsteps toward the squared liole bole are not t ri well known alfred denton on the other hand was a born novelist yet all his hopes were ivere centered into hito becoming a great editor a position for which he was unfitted han young trigg met trin ton ly loy cliance chance at a club to ivsich aich both belonged tries congratulated hi himself himell denton at that time was the hub editor of a well known magazine and trigg whose MSS AISS were invariably rejected was convinced that the magazine editors of london formed a sort of close corporation whose chief object in life was to keep tile the outsider eternally outside ont side arit trigg felt certain that if oneff one of his ieiri but got a cliance chance it would be mo ane to succeed and lie ho felt that his ripening friendship with denton would when the proper time came give him his chance chii there is no doubt but denton intuitively dively disliked trigg from the beginning ting this of course he had a perfect to do but it is questionable if he was justified in pretending I 1 a friendship lie did not feel and in leading the other on oil to confide ills his woes boes and ins ilia MSS Ss to in him perhaps the di disa 1 l ike arose from froin the unfortunate habit babit trigg 9 had of reading selections selection from his stories to anyone who would listen and there is no doubt that in those days denton got more than his share any man mail lias has a right to resent this sort so rt of tiling thing but lie should resist it openly and boldly and not revenge himself in a sneaky manner denton praised wd the MSS highly took them to the magazine office readily and kept them for a long iong time then they were returned to the unfortunate trigg witha with a note saying that the editor in spite of the warmest commendations on the part of denton had rejected them this was very disappointing as far as trigg tn gg was concerned and lie he conceived a violent hatred of the unknown editor who barred his way to publicity no man can live on rejected MSS alone and trigg embittered by lack of success secured a subordinate position upon the a great weekly critical journal ilia his own trying experience had added just the requisite touch of virulence to his bis pen which the delighted in and trigg speedily rose in the estimation of his superiors on the paper trigg naturally hated bated successful men one night at a large literary dinner lie he found himself next an old man who was introduced to him as the editor of the magazine of which his friend denton was vas the sub trigg had by this time become known as a rising man in aliat may be termed terme d the cruel school of criticism and tile the aged editor was very gracious to him 1 I wish he be said at last that you could find time to write us an article on cm any subject U bj act that pleased you trigg turned apon the benevolent old man and I 1 wish he replied as did the scriptural character that you would write a book the old man beamed upon him with surprise the scriptural character lie he said hoped that his bis enemy would write a book I 1 am certainly not an enemy of yours not now P perhaps said brutally you are like all the rest you give a man encouragement when he need it now that I 1 am getting along you ask tto me to write for your magazine ignoring the fact that you have rejected more of mine than any other man in london which is saying a good deal the tha editor looked at him now with genuine surprise in his eyes 11 ay iy dear sir he said you are laboring under some strange mistake I 1 never in my illy life saw a 11 MINIS of yours 1 I ani am orry ry to contradict you r rs plied trigg but I 1 have too many letters in my possession which tend to prove the contrary I 1 have I 1 believe some in bour own handwritings handwriting not intended lor for my eyes of course in which speak with great frankness of you YOU what you were pleased tc term the utter drivel I 1 have written 1 I would like very much said the surprised c editor to bee one of those letters to tell the truth I 1 sin am getting and position on trie the on in years my iny ro magazine agazine is largely nominal I 1 occasionally sio nally ily contribute something dg but the ml with dealt MSS sent in are entirely ay y our reader and finally by sir mr denton lie is the real editor of the magazine everybody knew and as I 1 thought has been for the past ten years ii you sur surprise prise mil inc I 1 said fhaid trigg of course until quite decenty I 1 have known nothing ot the inner life of literary lon london don and since joining the staff of the I 1 have been too busy to pay attention to it have o you then no power on the magazine with which your name is connected oh I 1 have the power if I 1 choose to exercise it but I 1 have very little taste for the drudgery of editing and 1 leave it entirely lu in the hands bands of my subordinates di nates what you say said trigg interests me more than you can be aware of I 1 would like if you do not mind to show allow you someday some day a number of letters I 1 have had from the office of your magazine 1 I should be pleased to see them answered the other and they made au an appointment to meet at the club of the editor the old man mait was very much lituch astonished when he sa saw tv the letters these rill alleged eged extracts from notes of mine are arc not in toy my writing they we were renever never written by me if denton wished to reject your NISS MSS he should at least have hare had tho the honesty to take the responsibility upon himself the next week trigg received a note from the editor of the magazine in question etwas it was to the following effect if you think it worth an item in your usual column of literary notes you have my authority for making the announcement that alfred denton for many years of the magazine is no longer connected with that periodical trigg chuckled as he read chislet this letter denton he said to himself the treacherous scoundrel will find out now that it is easier to lose a situation like that than to get another addlie and he added a cutting line to the item he be wrote about liis hiis former friend which without being libelous lib clous indicated that dentons dentone Den tons leaving of the magazine was practically a dismissal in disgrace denton soon realized that rumors were abroad about him aua ana his bis endeavors to get a fresh footing in the line that led to ultimate editorship were discouraging failures it was under these circumstances that he wrote his first book and had it published under a nom de plume it galled trigg for many a day af after ter to know that what he be wrote about this book was upon the whole favorable indeed exceedingly favorable for trigg who at once recognized the merit of the work without in the least guessing who its author anthor was vy by this ibis tinie time trigg had reached a commanding position upon his paper and what he wrote for its columns was printed as lie bo wrote it with no blue pencil supervision denton pl pleased leo ed with the success of his first book allowed it to be announced that he was the anonymous author trigg grashed gnashed his teeth when he realized that he be had helped his enemy but he held his peace and w waited A three volume novel was announced when those three volumes came to the office trigg felt that his time for vengeance had come ue ile devoted a page to it bothin nothing so bi bitter ater and so crushing even before or since appeared in the cynical col columns emlis of that paper it was merciless and eye everyone recognized that denton had received his deathblow death blow as a novelist none realized this more than denton himself who was driven to the verge of di ilia his publisher was appalled and he and the author had a consultation but both admitted that nothing could be done by all laws of logic the sale of the book should have hare stopped at that in moment but the very contrary was the case the fierceness and the magnitude tu de of the attack at once gave denton a place in the world of literature that it might in the ordinary cour course se 0 of f events have taken years to attain there instantly arose a discussion bout about a the book in various papers throughout the country the demand for it increased people wanted to read a work that had bad been so mere mercilessly slated the libraries sent in order after order and a second edition was announced still the demand kept up lip and as the book had genuine merit and as the attack was in reality villainously ous ly unfair although demoniacally clever public sympathy began to veer towards the author the first edition of the novel in cheap form was sold the day of publication and was speedily followed by a second and a third and it a fourth it is quite possible for a critic to overestimate his power and it was some time before trigg realized that his revenge was a boomerang his S article had been the making of his enemy and dentons dentone Den tons position in the literary world was wa s now assured no ko one c could destroy it but himself and as everyone knows lie he was too clever a man to do that ilia his succeeding books have more than borne out the promise of the first and second thus it happened that each mans vengeance upon the other succeeded in placing in both eases cases the aquaro reg peg in the square hole bole and although these two men were the making of each other although althou gli each in reality was the others best friend with the worst intentions yet such is the contra of human nature that no do two people in london hate each cach other so bo bitterly as frederick erick tri trigg 09 and alfred denton detroit free press |