He sat down to the piano, struck one chord, then began playing, and sang softly, "What does the coming day bring me?"
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Eleanore maintained that her dress was the prettier, and said she was dying to put it on.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Donna Ignazia looked at me affectionately, asked my pardon, and said she would do whatever her father liked.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

At length the magistrate, gulping down, with a very bad grace, his disinclination to hear anything more, turned to Mr. Pickwick, and said sharply, ‘What do you want to say?’
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

This is the very common little Olive, sent in such abundance in the West India boxes of shells; we figure it, because it is seldom rightly named in collections, being confounded with conoidalis , oryza , and several others of an equally diminutive size: the plaits are sharp, short, well defined, and nearly all of equal size; although the base of the pillar forms an internal elevation.
— from Zoological Illustrations, Second Series, Volume 2 or, Original Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare, or Interesting Animals by William Swainson

1841 The reader will find many words, grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure which does not conform with modern English usage.
— from Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 1 by George Daniel

But we cannot proceed a single step without deviating from common language; if the theory of the balance, or the lever, is to be explained, we immediately speak of space and time .
— from Practical Education, Volume II by Richard Lovell Edgeworth

She had the rowan in her pocket as she stood with Duncan, tampering with her conscience and her promise now.
— from The Quiver, 2/1900 by Various

All this the young fellow had to find out by the most painstaking and silent scout work, during which he crawled half a mile or so, emulating a snake much of the time.
— from The Brighton Boys in the Argonne Forest by James R. Driscoll

But Grizel waived all argument aside; secure in her four pounds and shillings she was determined to go to-night, for her father might be here to-morrow; she was going to London because it was so big that no one could ever find her there, and she would never, never write to Tommy to tell him how she fared, lest the letter put her father on her track.
— from Sentimental Tommy The Story of His Boyhood by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

Chopped mushrooms, parsley and shallot, seasoned with discretion, leave little to ask 175 for.
— from The Feasts of Autolycus: The Diary of a Greedy Woman by Elizabeth Robins Pennell

Before the gate of one of the houses stood a familiar gig, and presently, as she sat watching, Dr. Brice came down the narrow flower-bordered path, followed by a woman.
— from The S. W. F. Club by Caroline Emilia Jacobs

This spread a general joy, every one supposing that it was the ship returning; but presently, a second sail was descried, which quite destroyed their first conjecture, and made it difficult to guess what they were.
— from A Voyage Round the World in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV by Anson, George Anson, Baron

[Footnote 6: At Königsberg, in Prussia, a secret society was discovered which was partly composed of people of rank, who, under pretence of meeting for the exercise of religious duties, gave way to the most wanton license.]
— from Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4 by Wolfgang Menzel