A dead calm had succeeded the light breeze, that wafted them hither, and the men took to their oars.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

But, my dearest Catherine, have you settled what to wear on your head tonight?
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

In fact, the evening after this conversation the report was circulated that the Prince de Conde had arrived.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

That discovery could have but one result: I should be in the fire with Lem before the chill of the river had been fairly warmed out of him.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

“By the way,” exclaimed Dom Claude, “how is your royal patient?”
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

He was, then, as punctual as the Samaritan woman, and the most rigorous casuist with regard to duels could have nothing to say.
— from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Absolutely no human Reason (in fact no finite Reason like ours in quality, however much it may surpass it in degree) can hope to understand the production of even a blade of grass by mere mechanical causes.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

[ An accurate Memoir on the Life of Enguerrand VII., Sire de Coucy, has been given by the Baron de Zurlauben, (Hist. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom.
— 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 is an ordinary thing for such as are sound to laugh at this dejected pusillanimity, and those other symptoms of melancholy, to make themselves merry with them, and to wonder at such, as toys and trifles, which may be resisted and withstood, if they will themselves: but let him that so wonders, consider with himself, that if a man should tell him on a sudden, some of his especial friends were dead, could he choose but grieve?
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The Little Doctor caught her breath at the venomous accent he employed, and the Old Man half rose from his chair.
— from Chip, of the Flying U by B. M. Bower

Of course we'll stay there part of the time——" A very little fib like that, Isobel had decided, could hurt no one!
— from Highacres by Jane Abbott

She is very good-looking, of course,” Dauncey continued hesitatingly, “although she always reminded me of one of the conventional pictures of the birth or purse-proud young women which adorn the illustrated papers.”
— from Jacob's Ladder by E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked), and did cast himself into the sea.
— from Works of John Bunyan — Volume 01 by John Bunyan

Mere rhetorical vehemence cannot explain the earnestness with which in a day of diplomatic cynicism he preached the doctrine of an international morality as strict and as binding as the morality which exists between man and man.
— from English Literature: Modern by G. H. (George Herbert) Mair

As it was, the doctor cured him with great difficulty.
— from Snowflakes and Sunbeams; Or, The Young Fur-traders: A Tale of the Far North by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

Just then Dolly came, holding a cage of lovebirds.
— from The Giant's Robe by F. Anstey

A single, small, lonely, ashamed-looking pair of deuces confronted him.
— from Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford A Cheerful Account of the Rise and Fall of an American Business Buccaneer by George Randolph Chester

In this deplorable condition he was found by our adventurer, who gently chid him for his want of resolution, and again repelled his sorrow, by arousing his resentment against the innocent cause of his disquiet, having beforehand forged the particulars of provocation.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Giuseppe di Chicolo hamburghese;” 15 March, 1672 f. 75 50.
— from Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Spanish Language in the British Museum. Vol. 4 by Pascual de Gayangos