Holmes sat motionless by the fire his hands buried deep in his trouser pockets his chin sunk upon his breast his eyes fixed upon the glowing embers. For half an hour he was silent and still. Then with the gesture of a man who has taken his decision he sprang to his feet and passed into his bedroom. A little later a rakish young workman with a goatee beard and a swagger lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into the street. "I'll be back some time Watson" said he and vanished into the night. I understood that he had opened his cam-paign against Charles Augustus Milverton but I little dreamed the strange shape which that campaign was destined to take.