Meaning of the the structure 〜V1てV2ようとしたが、〜 in the sentence


In the sentence (from Harry Potter) below Dudley tries to grab the letter and
then read it.

>
> ダドリーが[手紙]{てがみ}を[奪]{うば}って[読]{よ}もうとしたが、おじさんは[手]{て}が[届]{とど}かないように[高々]{たかだか}と[掲]{かか}げていた。

When I read it until `...としたが` I thought the action of grabbing succeeded, but
when Dudley tried to read the letter something happened that prevented it.

However from the latter part I seems that Dudley didn't even managed to grab
the letter because the uncle was holding the letter high above.

  1. Is my understanding the Dudley didn't even grab the letter correct?
  2. How can we change the first part of this sentence in order to convey that Dudley actually grabbed the letter? Would using `と言って` work? 

>
> ダドリーが[手紙]{てがみ}を[奪]{うば}ってと言って、[読]{よ}もうとしたが、おじさんは[手]{て}が[届]{とど}かないように[高々]{たかだか}と[掲]{かか}げていた。




  1. According to the English version of the book (and the movies too if I remember correctly), Dudley couldn't grab it. So yes you were right about that point.

> Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high
> out of his reach.

(Harry Potter 1 P27, by J.K. Rowling)

I think the key grammar here is not just としたが but ようとしたが

しようとする means trying to do something. For example

食べようとしている means trying to eat (something)

But in the sentence you provided it connected with が which indicates a
contradiction with the latter part of the sentence.

So 読もうとしたが means, he did try to read it but (failed to do so because
Vernon...)  

  2. I'm not sure what you are trying to say here but I believe that と言って is not use for that purpose. I think we use と言って when referring to a speech or quotation.

P.S. To answer the question in your title, I think the Ｖ１て。。。 structure here
is used to connect two actions together chronologically. So I think it turns
奪って読む into 奪って読もうとする [He grab it then read it] -> [He tried to grab it and
read it]

