Défago changed his position in order to hear and smell—all there was to be heard and smelt.
— from The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood

He saw at once that a mistake had been made, that some difficult conditions had pushed this troubled creature into his presence, and his interest was enlisted.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser

The deities concealed have proved far more potent over the popular imagination than when visible.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

He was deliberately cocking his pistol, and, in the momentary silence that followed George’s speech, he fired at him.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Then the importance of the process quickly steadied her, and by the time she had her curls arranged in well-smoothed, drooping clusters, her pink satin frock put on, her long sash tied, and her lace mittens adjusted, she looked as grave as any judge.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

For the favour done by a friend, as the principal strength of an animal is within, is not for display or ostentation, but frequently as a doctor cures his patient imperceptibly, so a friend benefits by his intervention, or by paying off creditors, or by managing his friend's affairs, even though the person who receives the benefit may not be aware of it.
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

Daminus mendacii a seipso deceptus, alios decipere cupit, adversarius humani generis, Inventor mortis, superbiae institutor, radix malitiae, scelerum caput, princeps omnium vitiorum, fuit inde in Dei contumeliam, hominum perniciem: de horum conatibus et operationibus lege Epiphanium.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Mrs Tabitha’s favourite dog Chowder, having paid his compliments to a female turnspit of his own species, in the kitchen, involved himself in a quarrel with no fewer than five rivals, who set upon him at once, and drove him up stairs to the dining room door, with hideous noise: there our aunt and her woman, taking arms in his defence, joined the concert; which became truly diabolical.
— from The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by T. (Tobias) Smollett

Denísov celebrated his promotion to the rank of major, and Rostóv, who had already drunk enough, at the end of the feast proposed the Emperor’s health.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Her simple dress o' sprinkled pink, Her double, dimplit chin, Her puckered lips, an' baumy mou', With na ane tooth within.
— from The Home Book of Verse — Volume 1 by Burton Egbert Stevenson

" The two girls peered through the dirty little mica oval behind them at the strange old mansion, the bizarre turrets of which were silhouetted against the sky, where the edges of the dark clouds had parted, and the horizon shone with a paler, sickly light.
— from Nancy of Paradise Cottage by Shirley Watkins

In August the Harlings’ Danish cook had [pg 172] to leave them.
— from My Ántonia by Willa Cather

Four witnesses, who all came from different camps, have pointed out to you that the hygienic conditions in these different camps were identical and that the blocks were equally overcrowded in all these camps.
— from Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremburg, 14 November 1945-1 October 1946, Volume 6 by Various

There is no longer a trace of doubt about the matter—Mars has decidedly changed his position.
— from The Story of the Heavens by Robert S. (Robert Stawell) Ball

The following case, which occurred in humble life, illustrates the same principle:—A man on the point of death vowed he would not die, cursing his physician, who announced the near termination of his life, and insisted that he would live in defiance of the laws of nature.
— from The Anatomy of Suicide by Forbes Winslow

Upwards of 6,000 men were engaged upon it daily, and if Mr. Doyne could have procured more tools from the Quartermaster-General, the work would have gone on still faster; but he experienced considerable difficulty in getting the authorities to comply with his requisitions, although he handed over the matériel of the Corps to them when he arrived in the Crimea.
— from The British Expedition to the Crimea by Russell, William Howard, Sir

His brother, Dabney Carr Harrison (Princeton, '48), another close friend, took service in the Confederate army, first as chaplain, then as captain of a company, and was killed at Fort Donelson which, as I painfully remember, was at first reported as a Confederate victory.
— from The Creed of the Old South 1865-1915 by Basil L. (Basil Lanneau) Gildersleeve

Everyone was housed to-night in the pretty detached cottages he passed, and he thought with growing wrath of the trivial errand on which he had been sent.
— from Little Stories of Married Life by Mary Stewart Cutting