They tried hard to comfort her; and in trying, learned to love her; they could not help it, seeing how she clung, to them and put her arms about their necks and found no solace but in their kind eyes and comforting words: There was a question in both their hearts—a question that rose up and asserted itself with more and more pertinacity as the hours wore on—but both hesitated to give it voice—both kept silence—and—waited.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Charles Dudley Warner

I tried to fancy that in the course of the morning, at such time as might prove agreeable to him, Bartleby, of his own free accord, would emerge from his hermitage, and take up some decided line of march in the direction of the door.
— from Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville

If he happen to be wounded in a mortal part, and that he immediately dies, ‘tis held a certain argument of divine favour; but if he escapes, he is looked upon as a wicked and execrable wretch, and another is dismissed after the same manner in his stead.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

But 'tis not soe; nothings , as I am, may Pay all they have, and yet have all to pay.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

The sovereignty of the Exarchate melted away in the hands of the popes; they found in the archbishops of Ravenna a dangerous and domestic rival: 67 the nobles and people disdained the yoke of a priest; and in the disorders of the times, they could only retain the memory of an ancient claim, which, in a more prosperous age, they have revived and realized.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Anna Sergueyevna was more and more passionately attached to him; she adored him and it was inconceivable that he should tell her that their love must some day end; she would not believe it.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

I tried to fancy, that in the course of the morning, at such time as might prove agreeable to him, Bartleby, of his own free accord, would emerge from his hermitage and take up some decided line of march in the direction of the door.
— from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville

He past it o’er; affects an easy smile At all my peevishness, and turns his style.
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope

Rich indeed both in land and gold is he who has as many prizes as these horses have won for Agamemnon.
— from The Iliad by Homer

The old hounds make straight for the likely points, and in a minute a cry of “Forward” comes from one of them, and the whole pack, quickening their pace, make for the spot, while the boy who hit the scent first, and the two or three nearest to him, are over the first fence, and making play along the hedgerow in the long grass-field beyond.
— from Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes

“Is this a mad person?” asked the Hon.
— from Sandra Belloni (originally Emilia in England) — Complete by George Meredith

My brother Thomas spoke the feeling of my heart in something like these words:--"They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them.
— from Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel by John Yeardley

The young man started back as though a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet, and stood for a moment pale and trembling, his gaze fixed on the haggard features before him.
— from A Cardinal Sin by Eugène Sue

The packet contained nothing but a consecrated wafer, pierced thro' with as many pins as there had been saints' days since the king had received it.
— from Memoirs of the Comtesse Du Barry With Minute Details of Her Entire Career as Favorite of Louis XV by Lamothe-Langon, Etienne-Léon, baron de

The three talkers, who were a neighbouring manufacturer, his wife, and a friend, were naturally taken aback and made profuse apologies to her.
— from Mrs. Dorriman: A Novel. Volume 1 of 3 by Chetwynd, Henry Wayland, Mrs.

She remembered that the preparation for confirmation had been a bore, and yet had given her a pleasant sensation of self-approbation, because she was serving God in a manner peculiarly agreeable to Him by being in the right Church, especially now in these times of unbelief and neglect of religion.
— from The New Warden by Ritchie, David G. (David George), Mrs.

With Armand it was just as though they were living in a glorious country home; they drove out unattended, and took motor rides to one or other of their houses in the other parts of the island with as much privacy as they had run out to Fontainebleau in the days when they had first met.
— from The Princess Galva: A Romance by David Whitelaw

A mysterious parcel at that hour of the night, too late for any post.
— from The Hippodrome by Rachel Hayward