What does this phrase meaning in this context?

“'Tut, tut,' said he. 'I am quite sure that a man of your intelligence will see that there can be but one outcome to this affair. It is necessary that you should withdraw. You have worked things in such a fashion that we have only one resource left. It has been an intellectual treat to me to see the way in which you have grappled with this affair, and I say, unaffectedly, that it would be a grief to me to be forced to take any extreme measure. You smile, sir, abut I assure you that it really would.”

The Final Problem
Sherlock Holmes Illustrated and Complete
Doyle, Arthur Conan

Professor Moriarty was talking to Holmes.
What does the bold part "worked things" mean in this context?

Thank you.