The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter

This story takes place in February 1896. The captain of a rugby team, Cyril Overton, visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to ask for help because his best player, essential to win matches, the forward or player of three quarters, Godfrey Staunton, disappeared, after receiving a letter and leaving the hotel, accompanied by a stranger. Also, there are few hours left for the next game. While Sherlock Holmes checks the hotel room, Godfrey Staunton's uncle appears. He is Lord Mount-James, a very wealthy man to whom Godfrey Staunton is heir (the player is an orphan and the old man appears to be childless). At first, Sherlock Holmes, annoyed by this miserly old man's bad manners, suspects that Godfrey Staunton was kidnapped, in order to ask a ransom from his millionaire uncle, which arouses Lord Mount-James' concerns.