The stolidity with which I received these instructions was, no doubt, rather exasperating: for they were delivered in perfect sincerity; but I believed a person who could plan the turning of her fits of passion to account, beforehand, might, by exerting her will, manage to control herself tolerably, even while under their influence; and I did not wish to ‘frighten’ her husband, as she said, and multiply his annoyances for the purpose of serving her selfishness.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

They still gained a little by casting nativities, and kept starvation at arm’s length, till a new dupe, rich enough for their purposes, dropped into their toils, in the shape of a royal personage.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

To establish the pretended affinity, they have not scrupled to draw resources even from the regions of fiction.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

It is at this stage that the latter day Rasputin emerges from the shadows and joins officialdom or concludes lucrative transactions based on favourably deflated prices and insider dealing.
— from After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Samuel Vaknin

When the disciples return exulting from their mission through the cities, He says, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.”
— from Pastor Pastorum; Or, The Schooling of the Apostles by Our Lord by Henry Latham

When at a later period the Canadas were ceded to us by France, those parts of the opposite frontier which we have just described became also tributary to the English crown, and were, by the peculiar difficulties that existed to communication with the more central and populous districts, rendered especially favourable to the exercise of hostile intrigue by the numerous active French emissaries every where dispersed among the Indian tribes.
— from Wacousta : a tale of the Pontiac conspiracy (Complete) by Major (John) Richardson

When she was just twenty-one, Marie-des-Anges fell in love, and her beautiful, dark, restless eyes for the first time became illuminated with a look of dreamy happiness.
— from The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Volume 4 by Guy de Maupassant

Campania was a fertile and delightful region, extending from the Liris to the Silarus, and from the Apennines to the sea.
— from A Manual of Ancient History by M. E. (Mary Elsie) Thalheimer

Slowly a dull roaring, echoing from the distance, 215 steadily obtruded itself; the current was still glassy, but as it moved it snapped against the walls of the cañon in angry ripples.
— from Across the Andes A Tale of Wandering Days Among the Mountains of Bolivia and the Jungles of the Upper Amazon by Charles Johnson Post

He drank readily enough from the glass Mr. Linton held to his lips, while his son supported him with strong young arms.
— from A Little Bush Maid by Mary Grant Bruce

"What's in them?" asked Doyle, reaching eagerly for the sheaf of precious tissue-paper carbon copies.
— from The Soul Scar: A Craig Kennedy Scientific Mystery Novel by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve