He was crying like a great child, with convulsive sobs; his arms hanging down, and his legs weak, and he went downstairs without knowing what he was doing, and moving his feet mechanically.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

And so We went whither my soul was drawn; And her light-hearted ignorance Of interest in our discourse Fill’d me with love, and seem’d to enhance Her beauty with pathetic force, p. 59
— from The Angel in the House by Coventry Patmore

She had been used to consult him in every difficulty, and he loved her too well to bear to be denied her confidence now; he hoped to be of service to her, he thought he must be of service to her; whom else had she to open her heart to?
— from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

In one word, my dear son, the vow of chastity is so much opposed to Divine precepts and to human nature that it can be agreeable neither to God nor to society, nor to those who pledge themselves to keep it, and being in such opposition to every divine and human law, it must be a crime.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

On being addressed by one of the party, he drew nearer, and said, rubbing his chin (which scraped under his horny hand like fresh gravel beneath a nailed shoe), that he was from Delaware, and had lately bought a farm ‘down there,’ pointing into one of the marshes where the stunted trees were thickest.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

Then did the big bird smite himself with his own bill, and bled till he died amongst his little ones, and they recovered life in drinking up his blood.
— from The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Knowles, James, Sir

The want of discipline and human learning was supplied by the occasional assistance of the prophets , who were called to that function without distinction of age, of sex, * or of natural abilities, and who, as often as they felt the divine impulse, poured forth the effusions of the Spirit in the assembly of the faithful.
— 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

It was nearly sunset when we climbed up the gangway, and stood upon her deck; an hour later, the tug with our baggage, and with the express freight and mails, came out.
— from The Underground World: A mirror of life below the surface by Thomas Wallace Knox

In less than a minute he had arrived—a fine, stalwart man, of about middle age, clean-limbed, broad chested, upright as a dart, of dauntless aspect; his limbs and body showing many scars of battle.
— from The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa by Harry Collingwood

de Alcalá, Hacienda, Leg 544ª (Lib. 4).—Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 82, fol. 132.
— from A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2 by Henry Charles Lea

He knew he had the right to spend his time off on deck and he liked to be alone.
— from Tom Slade on a Transport by Percy Keese Fitzhugh

His brow darkened as he looked after the retreating cab.
— from Flint: His Faults, His Friendships and His Fortunes by Maud Wilder Goodwin

But Duprès, after his late miserable adventures, was sufficiently happy to find himself under this gorgeous patronage; he had his room, his laboratory, his weekly wage, and by means of the devices he had learned from his late master, Vanderlinden, he earned many an odd ducat from the numberless people who came and went in the mansion of the Prince.
— from Prince and Heretic by Marjorie Bowen

The tiny mechanism clattered onto the desk and Hengly leaped back, shouting hoarsely.
— from The K-Factor by Harry Harrison

Every one has a right to do as he likes; and the turnpike-keeper's manner of life was beginning to be looked on as a matter of course, when suddenly he drew upon himself universal attention.
— from 'Jena' or 'Sedan'? by Franz Adam Beyerlein

Yet Dirk, as he looked, could not get away from it.
— from Ester Ried Yet Speaking by Pansy

He died an hour later.
— from The Book of the Bush Containing Many Truthful Sketches of the Early Colonial Life of Squatters, Whalers, Convicts, Diggers, and Others Who Left Their Native Land and Never Returned by George Dunderdale