about 9am.
When dispatched it ran as follows : - ` Barchester , Sept 185 - -LRB- He purposely omitted any allusion to the ` palace ' , thinking that Mr Towers might not like it . A great man , he remembered , had been once much condemned for dating a letter from Windsor Castle . -RRB- ' -LRB- Private -RRB- ` My dear Sir , -- We were all a good deal shocked here this morning by hearing that poor old Dean Trefoil had been stricken with apoplexy . The fit took him about 9 am . I am writing now to save the post , and he is still alive , but past all hope , or possibility , I believe , of living . Sir Omicron Pie is here , or will be very shortly ; but all that even Sir Omicron can do , is to ratify the sentence of his less distinguished brethren that nothing can be done . Poor Dr Trefoil 's race on this side of the grave is run .