If Stapleton came into the succession, how could he explain the fact that he, the heir, had been living unannounced under another name so close to the property?
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

A certain ascetic tendency may also enter in as a purely individual factor, the tendency to self-humiliation and to self-sacrifice, not strong enough to surrender one's self from the start without a struggle, but emerging so soon as the consciousness of being vanquished begins to take possession of the soul; or another variation may be that of finding its supreme charm in the contrast to the still vital and active disposition to struggle.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

To these speeches they gave, of course, their own interpretation; fancying, no doubt, that at all events I should come into possession of vast quantities of ready money; and provided I paid them all I owed, and a trifle more, in consideration of their services, I dare say they cared very little what became of either my soul or my carcass.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe

There seems to be no reason for failing to perceive with the senses under the greatest excitement, but there is some clearness in the notion that great excitement causes what has just been perceived to be almost immediately forgotten.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross

Yet what difference is there between introducing such choral interludes, and transferring a speech, or even a whole act, from one play to another?
— from The Poetics of Aristotle by Aristotle

70 The sight of two snakes coiled round each other in sexual congress is considered to portend some great evil.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston

They thought we had been attacked with some kind of super-bug and they packed us into shipping containers in the docklands, like sardines.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Once more he was going to sit down, but instantly she cried, "I am looking through my little window, and I see that thou art resting.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

'Do you want to be grabbed, stupid?' 'I can't help it,' said Charley, 'I can't help it!
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

most accurately as Zardandan, but in the Pipinian as Ardandan (still further corrupted in some copies into Arcladam ).
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

I know thee—who doth not?" "Landlord," said Wharton, turning toward that personage, who, with amazement, irresolution, and terror in his face, inspected these violent proceedings, "landlord, I say, call in a lackey or two; I'll bring this ruffian to reason quickly.
— from The Cock and Anchor by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

It is obvious that the modification in such cases is by rights merely a part of the predicate, there being no formal distinction between ‘ A is the killer of B ’ and ‘ A is the unjust killer of B .’
— from The Logic of Chance, 3rd edition An Essay on the Foundations and Province of the Theory of Probability, With Especial Reference to Its Logical Bearings and Its Application to Moral and Social Science and to Statistics by John Venn

return to footnote mark Footnote B: There is something characteristic in Wordsworth's addressing an intimate travelling companion in this way.
— from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 1 (of 8) by William Wordsworth

It does not seem here to have quite the same character that it has elsewhere—it is less aggressive, tamer, not such a highwayman-robber sort of bird—and though it is so common I cannot ever remember to have seen a flock of them together in the real open country, they seem to {90} go in pairs generally; but in towns and such places as the Zoological Gardens of Cairo they do foregather in large numbers.
— from Egyptian Birds For the most part seen in the Nile Valley by Charles Whymper

Though all were in superb condition in every respect save one, that single lack could be serious and perhaps disastrous.
— from Hi Jolly! by Jim Kjelgaard

WORMS Some groups of animals are so well defined that the individual species contained in them can be assigned their proper place without any difficulty, the main characteristics by which the group is distinguished running with more or less precision throughout the series; but, unfortunately this is not the case with the ‘worms,’ which constitute the sub-kingdom Vermes .
— from The Sea Shore by William S. Furneaux

It is still observed in some churches in Cumberland and Westmoreland, but is gradually passing away.—E D .
— from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 5 (of 8) by William Wordsworth

I might miss him if we fought, and as for other ways of getting rid of him, I should come into collision with the law.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac