"In this story we learn how Straussman, the master spy, was branded for life by the ghastly disfigurement that earned for him the title of 'The Man with the Twisted Face'. Once again we are warned of his advent by that inexplicable atmosphere of pending evil that has for ever heralded his coming. It was on the sunny banks of the Cam that his presence was first manifested, a presence that was soon to shatter the peace of the whole of the old University town."