"May I stay here a little, Mary, or shall I bore you?" "Pray sit down," said Mary; "you will not be so heavy a bore as Mr. John Waule, who was here yesterday, and he sat down without asking my leave.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

I asked the Marquis Belcredi, who was near me, if she had a lover.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

“May I see him?” asked L'Estrange.
— from The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Charles James Lever

Trustworthy witnesses have sworn to facts, which I cannot deny, and you believe these facts; and yet, while the snare tightens around my feet, and I believe you intend to condemn me, I stand here, and look you in the face—as one day we thirteen will surely stand at the final judgment—and in the name of the God I love, and fear, and trust, I call you each to witness, that I am innocent of every charge in the indictment.
— from At the Mercy of Tiberius by Augusta J. (Augusta Jane) Evans

Mary, don't make it supposititious," he appealed, leaping to his feet.
— from Mixed Faces by Roy Norton

Cla. Nay, faith nothing, But methinks so sweet a beauty, as yours shews to me, And such an innocence as you may make it, Should hold a longer Siege.
— from Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 07 of 10 by John Fletcher

And I didn't believe Zion would languish so much if she had a little help gin her when she needed it.
— from Samantha among the Brethren — Volume 5 by Marietta Holley

Before he attempts to court-martial me I shall have a little private interview with him, and—you shall see that the matter will blow over; and the Second may take its right place again in the army."
— from The Genius by Margaret Horton Potter

Looking heavenward she muttered imploringly, "Save him, an' let old brindle git out again sometime."
— from The Nightriders' Feud by Walter Caruth McConnell

"My intentions?" said he at last, in a displeased, surprised tone; "this is a very strange question; I do not recognize your right to ask it."
— from Gerfaut — Volume 4 by Charles de Bernard

"May I stay here a little while before I go to prison?" asked the boy, pleadingly.
— from The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum