At such times, Nicholas coloured and looked embarrassed: for the truth is, that he had begun to wonder whether the stranger could, by any possibility, be looking for a clerk or secretary; and thinking this, he felt as if the old gentleman must know it.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

He was a literary man all over when with an inspired face he laid a wreath on the coffin of some celebrity, or with a grave and solemn face collected signatures for some address; his passion for making the acquaintance of distinguished literary men, his faculty for finding talent even where it was absent, his perpetual enthusiasm, his pulse that went at one hundred and twenty a minute, his ignorance of life, the genuinely feminine flutter with which he threw himself into concerts and literary evenings for the benefit of destitute students, the way in which he gravitated towards the young—all this would have created for him the reputation of a writer even if he had not written his articles.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

He becomes, if not intellectually confused, at least emotionally fatigued.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. (Andrew Cecil) Bradley

By thus exaggerating to his own mind the anticipated ill-fortune of the next day, to which he had condemned himself by promising Mercédès to spare her son, the count at last exclaimed: “Folly, folly, folly!—to carry generosity so far as to put myself up as a mark for that young man to aim at.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Conrad and Louis embarked for Europe with the personal fame of piety and courage; but the Orientals had braved these potent monarchs of the Franks, with whose names and military forces they had been so often threatened.
— 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

Three hours she gave to stitching, with gold thread, the border of a square crimson cloth, almost large enough for a carpet.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

It would be still more unreasonable to invest the English judges with the right of resisting the decisions of the legislative body, since the Parliament which makes the laws also makes the constitution; and consequently a law emanating from the three powers of the State can in no case be unconstitutional.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville

He seems to me an industrious farmer, endowed with the greatest skill, who has cultivated a large estate for corn and vines only, and indeed with a rich return of fine crops.
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

The smiling outlaw now looked grave, and turning to his comrade asked, loud enough for me to hear: "Shall we go in and cook?"
— from On a Donkey's Hurricane Deck A Tempestous Voyage of Four Thousand and Ninety-Six Miles Across the American Continent on a Burro, in 340 Days and 2 Hours, Starting Without a Dollar and Earning My Way by R. Pitcher (Robert Pitcher) Woodward

“We have heard from them,” cried Annie Laurie eagerly from the hall.
— from Annie Laurie and Azalea by Elia Wilkinson Peattie

But, without attempting tunes, only give the bells the Morse alphabet, and every bell in Boston might chant in monotone the words of "Hail Columbia" at length, every Fourth of July.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 12, October, 1858 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Let them all resolve that if the world can at last emerge free from the present hurricane, they will not permit, out of weakness and despondency, the sweeping waves of teutonism to submerge Civilization and destroy the monuments of the work of centuries of the Christian Art.
— from England, Canada and the Great War by L. G. (Louis Georges) Desjardins

"Gentlemen," she began, speaking clearly and loud enough for all to hear, "you must confess that I have as much interest as any one here in seeing this youthful ruffian brought to justice.
— from Frank Merriwell's Bravery by Burt L. Standish

Instead of an emigration, such as we now see from Ireland to England, there was, under his government, a constant and large emigration from England to Ireland.
— from Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Essays; Vol. 4 With a Memoir and Index by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

Cries and lamentations echoed from one end of the city to the other, and Death and Charles reigned over London together.
— from The Midnight Queen by May Agnes Fleming

On March 10, the Unitá contained a letter expressing fears that Austria and Italy might agree to remain neutral, but quoting a passage from the Volksbote in favour of French invasion of Germany.
— from The Pope, the Kings and the People A History of the Movement to Make the Pope Governor of the World by a Universal Reconstruction of Society from the Issue of the Syllabus to the Close of the Vatican Council by William Arthur

The spirituality of nature floats like a dream before the mind of poets, and is seen now and then in wistful glimpses by every one; but it needs some clearer and less elusive form, as well as some definite association with conscience, if it is to be defended against the pull of the green earth.
— from Among Famous Books by John Kelman