I looked round, and saw an undersized man in black on the door-step of a house, which, as well as I could judge, stood next to Mrs. Catherick's place of abode—next to it, on the side nearest to me.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

However, he has one good quality, and that is blind obedience to my orders.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

He entered Maromme shouting for the people of the inn, burst open the door with a thrust of his shoulder, made for a sack of oats, emptied a bottle of sweet cider into the manger, and again mounted his nag, whose feet struck fire as it dashed along.
— from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Under these circumstances, it becomes obligatory that the Grand Lodge should restore him to the place he formerly occupied, and reinvest him with the rights of which he has been unjustly despoiled.
— from The Principles of Masonic Law A Treatise on the Constitutional Laws, Usages and Landmarks of Freemasonry by Albert Gallatin Mackey

The governor was there; but when I went to his lodging, the secretary came to me from him with the civillest message in the world, that he could not then see me, being engaged in business of the utmost importance, but should send the letters to me on board, wished me heartily a good voyage and a speedy return, etc.
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Becky—must it be owned?—took to this life, and took to it not unkindly.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Just as he left off, the maiden woke up, rubbed her eyes, got off the bank, and had a dance all alone too—such a dance that the savage looked on in ecstasy all the while, and when it was done, plucked from a neighbouring tree some botanical curiosity, resembling a small pickled cabbage, and offered it to the maiden, who at first wouldn’t have it, but on the savage shedding tears relented.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Every temple has its fonts, its vaulted roof, its lamps, its pictures or sculptures, its inscriptions, its books of the law, its offerings, its altars and its priests.
— from What Men Live By, and Other Tales by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

By this lane is the parish church of St. Alban, which hath the monuments of Sir Richard Illingworth, baron of the exchequer; Thomas Chatworth, grocer, mayor 1443; John Woodcocke, mayor 1405; John Collet, and Alice his wife; Ralph Thomas; Ralph and Richard, sons of Ralph Illingworth, which was son to Sir Richard Illingworth, baron of the exchequer; Thomas, son of Sir Thomas Fitzwilliams; Thomas Halton, mercer, mayor 1450; Thomas Ostrich, haberdasher, 1483; Richard Swetenham, esquire; and William Dunthorne, town-clerk of London, with this epitaph: “ Fœlix prima dies postquam mortalibus ævi Cesserit, hic morbus subit, atque repente senectus
— from The Survey of London by John Stow

72 A town in Boeotia, on the lake Copais, distant 50 stades north-west of Thebes.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander or, The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great by Arrian

There is already a touch of quaintness in both of these attitudes.
— from The Approach to Philosophy by Ralph Barton Perry

He mentally reviewed his journey from the boat to the temple, fighting through the tiger-grass, breaking through the delicate impeding branches of the sundri trees, crushing the sundri breathers under his heavy boots as he tramped behind the guide, having failed to notice, owing to the resemblance that exists between one ordinary native and the next, that the guide and coolie of the jungle were not the guide and coolie of the paddle boat.
— from Leonie of the Jungle by Joan Conquest

Jack rather wondered what had to be talked of which intelligent boys of twelve and fourteen ought not to hear, but he said nothing, and went in at once.
— from By Far Euphrates: A Tale by Deborah Alcock

Permanency and executive functions throughout are vested in the directories of four or eight members, or in bureaus of two, three, four, six, and even seven members whose elected chief, a president or mayor, 2313 has simply an honorary primacy.
— from The French Revolution - Volume 1 by Hippolyte Taine

How Upon The Death Of Cyrus The Jews Were Hindered In Building Of The Temple By The Cutheans, And The Neighboring Governors; And How Cambyses Entirely Forbade
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

The fog, from a distance, appeared to rise like a cliff, quite smoothly, and it blotted out the world beyond.
— from Over Prairie Trails by Frederick Philip Grove

The drum awoke from its torpor, and summoned its brethren of the band to give their various versions of the National Anthem.
— from Sandra Belloni (originally Emilia in England) — Complete by George Meredith

He wore a chip on his shoulder for all of us; and it was during this period that Anderson, our club champion and Number One on the team, christened Ambrose "Little Poison Ivy," because of the irritating effect of personal contact with him.
— from Fore! by Charles E. (Charles Emmett) Van Loan

Maybe they are not able to translate it, but of that the sending nation cannot be sure and it makes it very careful, particularly when the local government is affected.
— from The Cab of the Sleeping Horse by John Reed Scott

A young colored lad is brushing off the porch, but the two go down on the path that is speckless and as hard as a floor.
— from Floyd Grandon's Honor by Amanda M. Douglas