As I came in he half arose, with a wild, hunted look in his eyes, which were wide open and staring, as though something of horror had come before him; but when he recognised me he sank back on the couch with a smothered sob of relief and closed his eyes.
— from Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker

When we see the goats of Candia, when wounded with an arrow, among a million of plants choose out dittany for their cure; and the tortoise, when she has eaten a viper, immediately go out to look for origanum to purge her; the dragon to rub and clear his eyes with fennel; the storks to give themselves clysters of sea-water; the elephants to draw not only out of their own bodies, and those of their companions, but out of the bodies of their masters too (witness the elephant of King Porus whom Alexander defeated), the darts and javelins thrown at them in battle, and that so dexterously that we ourselves could not do it with so little pain to the patient;—why do we not say here also that this is knowledge and reason?
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

The girl seemed to love her well in return, and called her endearingly Tan'tante.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin

They were willing and ready to retrace their steps, when, in crossing the suburb which leads to the gates of the town, upon a white wall which was at the corner of a street turning around the rampart, Athos cast his eyes upon a drawing in black chalk, which represented, with the awkwardness of a first attempt, two cavaliers riding furiously; one of them carried a roll of paper on which were written these words: “They are following us.”
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

That done, the King of Thunes turned round and cast his eyes over his army, a fierce multitude whose glances flashed almost equally with their pikes.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

Pierre turned away with repugnance, and closing his eyes quickly fell back on the carriage seat.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

12 He reported secretly to Bonifacio, who bestowed several choice Tagalog epithets on Rizal, and charged his envoy to say nothing about the failure of his mission, but rather to give the impression that he had been successful.
— from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal

Mme. de Restaud’s expression was reserved and chilly, her eyes had grown indifferent, and sedulously avoided meeting those of the unlucky student of law.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

he muttered, as he drew rein at the door of the Sailors' Rest and cast his eyes up to the light in the window over his head.
— from Double Harness by Anthony Hope

To continue our conchological analogy, by the time of the first Punic War Rome and Carthage had each expanded into a shell, and between the two intervened the eastern section of the island of Sicily.
— from The Story of Geographical Discovery: How the World Became Known by Joseph Jacobs

That Drew had watched the course of many bullets Curlie Carson, yes, and most of the world besides, knew right well, for Drew Lane had not hesitated to arrest the higher-ups in one of the greatest crime rings a city has ever known.
— from Riddle of the Storm A Mystery Story for Boys by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell

“Yes’m,” was the plaintive reply, and, closing his eyes, Toady awaited his fate with fortitude.
— from Proverb Stories by Louisa May Alcott

The following is among the records of transactions rehearsed at Chalcedon: "He, Eutyches, professed that he followed the expositions of the holy and blessed Fathers who formed the Councils of Nicæa and Ephesus, and was ready to subscribe to them.
— from Primitive Christian Worship Or, The Evidence of Holy Scripture and the Church, Against the Invocation of Saints and Angels, and the Blessed Virgin Mary by James Endell Tyler

I said as he paused; and the old fellow looked round as if fearful that rocks and cactuses had ears and might report his utterances to some jefe politico , and continued, "A volley was heard, and the officers afterwards reported that the prisoners had attempted to escape and had been shot down."
— from Mexico Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development by C. Reginald (Charles Reginald) Enock

Often in the still hour of the evening we would stroll away through the meadows, sometimes down along the banks of Sun river, and carelessly hold each other’s hands.
— from Then and Now; or, Thirty-Six Years in the Rockies Personal Reminiscences of Some of the First Pioneers of the State of Montana by Robert Vaughn

Content just to see and hear and understand, he has no fret or sweat to get the sun just right and calculate his exact thirty-foot distance and then to fume and swear, as I have heard good men do, because the game fidgets, or the clouds obscure the sun, or the plates are not quick enough, or—beginning of sorrows!—because he finds after the game has fled that the film he has just used on a bull moose had all its good qualities already preëmpted by a landscape and a passing canoe.
— from A Little Brother to the Bear, and other Animal Studies by William J. (William Joseph) Long