{fragment}

I

This is not a moral story; for which deplorable fact the Auburn gossip-mongers are at least partly to blame. Indeed, it is only fair to admit that without these tattle-cats and their activities there might never have been any story at all, or none worth the telling. Which is the nearest we will come to indulging in ethical reflections or to point {out} any sort of a moral ....

Arthur Dudley was a hack writer: that is to say, he wrote magazine fiction for a living, having early decided that the manufacture of literary hokum would be a shade less detestable than the more usual forms of business-bondage, or the hard but honest toil of a coal-{miner}. He was clever — but too clever for popularity, in either a literary or personal sense.

^xxx^ xxx was added by Smith.
[xxx] xxx was deleted by Smith.