“Leaving here soon?” asked Pyotr Stepanovitch from his easy chair, lighting a cigarette.
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The student turned sharply towards him, made a grimace, and bringing his face close into unseemly proximity to the face of his Excellency, crowed like a cock at the top of his voice.
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

So Charles set to work again and crammed for his examination, ceaselessly learning all the old questions by heart.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

In his eyes Cesar lessened, as men lessen in presence of disasters when accustomed only to success, and when their whole mental strength consists of knowledge which commonplace minds acquire through routine.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

7:36 On the plates of its stays, and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths all around.
— from The World English Bible (WEB), Complete by Anonymous

While thus employed, the Duke, one day, having expressed his admiration of a weeping child which he had just painted, Cortona with a single stroke of his pencil made it appear laughing, and with another restored it to its former state; "Prince," said he, "you see how easily children laugh and cry."
— from Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by Shearjashub Spooner

His chums never [17] knew what he would spring on them next, for he was constantly grappling with puzzling questions connected with the science of aviation, and deploring the fact that there was always something magnificent just ahead of him that seemed to be eluding his eager clutch like a will-o'-the-wisp in the swamp.
— from Under Canvas; or, The Hunt for the Cartaret Ghost by Douglas, Alan, Captain

This act, however, excited comparatively little attention, for such outrages were not unfrequently committed by those who had, or at least who thought they had; the law in their own hands.
— from Willy Reilly The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by William Carleton

His daughter, a flower herself, is bringing his dinner, which he eats cheerfully leaning against one side of the grave for support.
— from The Charm of Gardens by Dion Clayton Calthrop