‘I never in my life,’ he thought, ‘saw anything so remarkable and so captivating as the lighting of those features!’
— from Hard Times by Charles Dickens

He's a little old for riding a scooter cart, and the look on his face and the way he carries himself are wrong.
— from The Blue Ghost Mystery: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin

She followed him, as rapidly as she could, across the little front garden, to the gate.
— from Little Novels by Wilkie Collins

The frugal tables of those who were once rich, have been accompanied by relative and similar changes among the lower classes; and the suppression of gilt equipages is so far from diminishing the number of wooden shoes, that for one pair of sabots which were seen formerly, there are now ten.
— from A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady: with General and Incidental Remarks on the French Character and Manners by Charlotte Biggs

Various interested groups are represented as surrounding the riders, and secret counsel, at the last moment, is given to jockeys by owners of horses—possibly parting instructions to ride either a winning or a losing race, as their private arrangements may require.
— from Rowlandson the Caricaturist; a Selection from His Works. Vol. 1 by Joseph Grego

The notes of the wood-dove and oriole mingling with the silvery voice of the river, fell in rhythmical cadences upon the ears of the inhabitants who rested in the shady seclusion of their patios and gardens during the hour of the siesta ; rolling and smoking cigarillos as they leisurely discussed the latest bit of news or gossip over their black coffee, mescal and tequila , or engaged in a game of moles .
— from When Dreams Come True by Ritter Brown

Knee to shoulder, King and stallion reared and sprang Clear above the long white combers And that turmoil's iron clang.
— from Ballads of Lost Haven: A Book of the Sea by Bliss Carman

I had received a severe cut across the left arm a few moments before, and should have known nothing of it, except supposing that somebody had struck me a smart blow, if I had not felt weak, and seen myself covered with spouting blood, and, at the same instant of time, seen Miss Maryon tearing her dress and binding it with Mrs. Fisher’s help round the wound.
— from The Perils of Certain English Prisoners by Charles Dickens

The garden door was pushed, the bell rang, and she came across the lawn, radiant and tall and swift, and opened wide her arms.
— from Peter Ibbetson by George Du Maurier

It was recalling a shocking crime, and to little purpose; for as no< woman had at that time ever sat on the English throne in her own right, Richard had little reason to apprehend the claim of his nieces.
— from Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third by Horace Walpole