But the papers, with editorial finger on the pulse of London, now took up a theme to which increasing space was devoted day by day. The leading journal showed that it still knew how to thunder. Its latest warnings, its most booming utterances, were directed against the growing power and audacity of the Leaguers of London. It told the nation plainly what had been hinted at before in the _Detector_--in effect, that there was a great conspiracy on foot, and that unless the Governmental powers bestirred themselves, the safety of the capital, if not of the whole nation, would be imperilled. This conspiracy, it was stated, had ramifications and objects far more dangerous than those that had been exposed in the famous series of articles on “Parnellism and Crime.” Tudor Street and Carmelite Buildings were not to be outdone by Printing House Square or Fleet Street. The League figured constantly in the bold headlines and contents bills of the halfpenny journals, and one of them--the _Epoch_--whose prosperity was not so great as was commonly supposed, bent on a bid for fame, now boldly alleged that the head centre of the mysterious League was none other than the Anglo-Mexican millionaire, Marcus White. The result was looked for with anxiety and interest. When it was known, the devout believers in the disinterestedness of the _Epoch_ received something of a shock; for one morning it was announced that the paper had changed hands, and the journal which so recently had denounced the Leaguers of London and all their works, was now the accredited organ of the League, and the champion of its objects. There was something sinister and cynical in the transaction. The price paid for the _Epoch_, its goodwill, its plant, its printing houses and stock, was said to be enormous, but in its sale as a commercial property the commercial instinct was by no means eliminated. It became at once a powerful collecting agency for the League. A coupon-form, with the imprint of the spider-disc, appeared in every copy, and it was intimated that those readers who subscribed a stated sum to the funds of the League, would have their names and addresses carefully registered, thereby securing immunity from further applications for financial support. In effect, such subscribers would obtain the protection of the League itself, in case of public disturbance, or that risk to life and property which, according to the contemporaries of the _Epoch_, the police of London were not in sufficient strength to avert. Coupons, with names and addresses, and remittances often largely exceeding the minimum amount invited, now poured into the offices of the _Epoch_ by every post. The receipt sent in every case was a metal disc, which now met the eye of astonished Londoners in every street, railway carriage, omnibus, tram-car, and place of public resort. It was worn prominently on the left breast by an ever-increasing multitude, men and women, and even by children, belonging to all ranks of life.