Only toward the river side the ring was open, whether because those who made it feared Grey Dick’s arrows, or in order that he and Red Eve might see everything that chanced.
— from Red Eve by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

It was understood that Mrs. Tetchy intended to have a grand wedding for her daughter, by way, as my sister said, of showing her new son that her daughter was somebody, a fact of which Jane thought he would have a realizing experience much sooner than he expected.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

I shook my head, and replied, "Excuse me, sir; I cannot sign that."
— from The Marvellous History of the Shadowless Man, and The Cold Heart by Adelbert von Chamisso

“Considering the general backwardness of the Outeroos in breaking old traditions and especially in the direction of a greater recognition of human brotherhood, or the rights of the individual as a unit of society, the Zelanians have another rule, even more surprising, as you will see, for it is not only the offspring of a sentiment or idea, as novel in its nobility of conception as that upon which grew the old age pension, but it is so radical a departure from old British customs, as to startle a student with its audacious demands.
— from Mr. Oseba's Last Discovery by George W. (George William) Bell

I shook my head, and replied, “Excuse me, sir; I cannot sign that.”
— from Peter Schlemihl by Adelbert von Chamisso