Yet like most dangers this was more shadowy than real, and there was no reason why a man should not, if he were so minded, have ordered this particular Parliamentary paper through his newsagent, or gone boldly to the counter of the Government printers and, putting down his few pence, demanded to be served with a copy. Furthermore, there was perhaps as little reason why a postal servant should not be seen openly reading such a document within the precincts of the Post-Office itself. He might have cheaply gained a character for boldness had he but known it. But Williams, who first set himself to bring the mysterious document to light, though he shared the original belief about the exclusiveness of this particular class of literature, was made of different stuff, and entered on his quest like one equipped for an expedition into unknown regions. Probably he was disappointed that he met with so few difficulties. The simple purpose was invested with a dramatic interest from the start. Williams, though he was not weak enough to lose the opportunity for surrounding his exploit with the necessary amount of mystery to enable him to pose as the one man on earth to whom the gods had been kind in vouchsafing him the ownership of the sacred screed, yet, nevertheless, if the truth has to be told, came into its possession in the most ordinary prosaic fashion. But the moral courage of him who was thus determined to brave the unknown terrors of publishers’ rebuffs and awkward official inquiries was none the less real, nor was the document itself when so cheaply obtained any the less valuable. Williams was undoubtedly a man of grit, of indomitable perseverance, combining the qualities of an attorney with the cold-blooded zeal and high-minded courage of a Puritan of old. The suggestion of the Puritan in his manner was accentuated by a tantalising slowness of utterance even in the moments of highest expectancy, and when his audience felt and knew he had something rich to offer them. Williams the original discoverer, and the chosen few whom he took into his confidence, hugged their precious document close for a considerable time, withdrawing themselves now and again to little out-of-the-way and unguessed-at meeting-places to distil from it the honey drops which they judiciously from time to time sprinkled among the thirsty multitude of their followers.