Now, as I am quite sure no one else will take this view of what is the principal interest in your glorious procession of youth and hope, I thought it as well to let you know, that you might give that little panther his due importance (a little leopard, I think he is), and not suppose him a subordinate accessory!
— from The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton. Volume II by Barrington, Russell, Mrs.

She was afraid of the hotel-keeper, who, in the daytime, taking advantage of the fact that she lived in the hotel itself, and not in the Pavilion with the other “artists” prowled round her, mute, hungry, portentous behind his great beard, or else assailed her in quiet corners and empty passages with deep, mysterious murmurs from behind, which, not withstanding their clear import, sounded horribly insane somehow.
— from Victory: An Island Tale by Joseph Conrad

"The worst of Ludovic is that he is a ne'er-do-well.
— from Linda Tressel by Anthony Trollope