In the autumn of 1823 the friends and correspondents of Charles Metcalfe — both those who wrote to him publicly and privately on grave affairs of state , and those who addressed him only in the language of personal affection were disquieted and alarmed by a suspension of those communications from Hyderabad which had before been received with such unbroken regularity. They could not account for his long silence . Some there were who thought that they had offended him, and wrote warm - hearted letters to ask what they had done to incur his displeasure. But after a while there came tidings to Calcutta that sick ness had fallen upon the Hyderabad Resident. His wontedly strong health had yielded at last to a distressing malady ; and in the midst of the physical sufferings he had endured, he had been unable to write to his friends.