O'er hill and dale our merry pilgrims pass'd, Till, coming to a river's ford at last, They stopp'd quite puzzled on the shore.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine

I thought I would watch for the Count’s return, and for a long time sat doggedly at the window.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

When we turned out of the town, round a corner, and Richard told us that the post-boy, who had for a long time sympathized with our heightened expectation, was looking back and nodding, we both stood up in the carriage (Richard holding Ada lest she should be jolted down) and gazed round upon the open country and the starlight night for our destination.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

For a long time she observed their request, and told no one about the money; but at last she told, and so never found money afterwards.’
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. (Walter Yeeling) Evans-Wentz

Looking at her silently for a long time; "She is a dear dear Tess," he thought to himself, as one deciding on the true construction of a difficult passage.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy

For a long time she had refused to play bridge.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

He told me the whole story of Mrs. Stewart’s going away from Court, he knowing her well; and believes her, up to her leaving the Court, to be as virtuous as any woman in the world: and told me, from a Lord that she told it to but yesterday, with her own mouth, and a sober man, that when the Duke of Richmond did make love to her, she did ask the King, and he did the like also; and that the King did not deny it, and [she] told this Lord that she was come to that pass as to resolve to have married any gentleman of L1500 a-year that would have had her in honour; for it was come to that pass, that she could not longer continue at Court without prostituting herself to the King, [Even at a much later time Mrs. Godolphin well resolved “not to talk foolishly to men, more especially THE KING,”—“be sure never to talk to THE KING” (“Life,” by Evelyn).
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Those who were sitting near her declared that for a long time she shivered all over as though in a fever.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Now a girl always shows her love by outward signs and actions, such as the following:—She never looks the man in the face, and becomes abashed when she is looked at by him; under some pretext or other she shows her limbs to him; she looks secretly at him though he has gone away from her side; hangs down her head when she is asked some question by him, and answers in indistinct words and unfinished sentences, delights to be in his company for a long time, speaks to her attendants in a peculiar tone with the hope of attracting his attention towards her when she is at a distance from him, does not wish to go from the place where he is, under some pretext or other she makes him look at different things, narrates to him tales and stories very slowly so that she may continue conversing with him for a long time, kisses and embraces before him a child sitting in her lap, draws ornamental marks on the foreheads of her female servants, performs sportive and graceful movements when her attendants speak jestingly to her in the presence of her lover, confides in her lover's friends, and respects and obeys them, shows kindness to his servants, converses with them, and engages them to do her work as if she were their mistress, and listens attentively to them when they tell stories about her lover to somebody else, enters his house
— from The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding Remarks by Vatsyayana

For a long time, Siddhartha had been partaking in the discussions of the wise men, practising debate with Govinda, practising with Govinda the art of reflection, the service of meditation.
— from Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

And, good my Lord of Somerset, unite Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot; And like true subjects, sons of your progenitors, Go cheerfully together and digest Your angry choler on your enemies.
— from Henry VI, Part 1 by William Shakespeare

For a long time she remained thus in hiding.
— from The Middy and the Moors: An Algerine Story by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

The writer was informed by a certain female friend at Llandegla that she had seen a bluish light leave the mouth of a person who was sick, light which she thought was the life, or spirit of that person, but the person did not immediately die.
— from Welsh Folk-Lore a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales by Elias Owen

Some, to add to the misery, were seized with fever, and lost their senses, raving wildly; and though Fernando was saved from this, he was never able to raise himself from the ground, and suffered terribly from pain and weakness.
— from The Constant Prince by Christabel R. (Christabel Rose) Coleridge

In France the novels of Zola, the most pedestrianally moralistic of writers, were for a long time supposed to be immoral because they were often disgusting.
— from Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society by Havelock Ellis

For a long time she sat silent.
— from Told in a French Garden August, 1914 by Mildred Aldrich

I thought I recollected having seen him too, but could not remember his name, though he spoke to me with the greatest familiarity; at least, that sort of familiarity that an official person generally assumes.
— from The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

His pictures were, for a long time, scarcely known out of Holland, but now they are deservedly placed in the choicest collections.
— from Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by Shearjashub Spooner

Here was a collector of water-rates, without his book, without his pen and ink, without his double knock, without his intimidation, kissing—actually kissing—an agreeable female, and leaving taxes, summonses, notices that he had called, or announcements that he would never call again, for two quarters’ due, wholly out of the question.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens