They were sago palms, vegetation that grows without being cultivated; like mulberry trees, they reproduce by means of shoots and seeds.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

It was part of my service to live in the very light of her eyes—at one time to be bending over her, so close to her bosom as to tremble at the thought of touching it; at another, to feel her bending over me, bending so close to see what I was about, that her voice sank low when she spoke to me, and her ribbons brushed my cheek in the wind before she could draw them back.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

As I can remember, by my troth, I never did her hurt in all my life: I never spake bad word, nor did ill turn To any living creature: believe me, la, I never kill’d a mouse, nor hurt a fly: I trod upon a worm against my will, But I wept for it.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

I endeavored to reply, but my tongue refused its office.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

I should not be the least surprised if she were a dancer or a circus rider, but most likely a dancer.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

Dora was waiting in the hall for him, having been made ready by Mrs. Lynde.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

The heartless and ghastly form of slavery rises between mother and child, even at the bed of death.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

The evening came, and the dressing-bell for dinner rang, before Mr. Franklin returned from Frizinghall.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

He was very kind, forgave her readily, and did not utter one reproach, but Meg knew that she had done and said a thing which would not be forgotten soon, although he might never allude to it again.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I heard a rustling behind me, and hurried back to watch, getting my eye on the deck in time to see a cloud of dust thrown toward the cabin-door, just as a farmer’s man might be sowing some kind of seed broadcast.
— from Sail Ho! A Boy at Sea by George Manville Fenn

He was probably received by Michael Choniates, the archbishop who had defended Athens against the tyrant Leo Sgurus, (Nicetas urbs capta, p. 805, ed.
— from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6 by Edward Gibbon

Surrender brought relief, but my life seemed at an end.
— from Confessions of a Young Man by George Moore

He had hardly reported, before Mary appeared at my door in her morning-gown, and said that she was sorry for having failed to observe the hour for turning out the light, but that she had just received a letter from her mother which she wanted very much to answer; that she hoped I would excuse her.
— from Our Girls by Dio Lewis

A general jubilee was held soon after the birth of my second son, and among Christian nations like ours, a jubilee is as if one said, "Now all statutes, divine and earthly, are repealed; by means of certain formula recited, certain visits paid to the temples, certain acts of abstinence practised here and there, all sins, misdemeanours, and crimes are forgiven, and their punishment cancelled."
— from Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de Montespan — Volume 3 by Madame de Montespan

They endeavored to do this; but the darkness was now redoubled, and the wind and rain became more furious than ever.
— from Pearl-Fishing; Choice Stories from Dickens' Household Words; First Series by Charles Dickens

I felt myself a second Adam wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thought there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair.
— from At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I noticed that the detective, without being impolite, did his best to discourage these remarks; but my client knew no such word as discouragement.
— from The Celebrity, Volume 03 by Winston Churchill

Germany has in this respect been more fortunate, possessing in Cologne Cathedral an edifice combining all the beauties ever attempted to be produced in pointed Gothic in that country.
— from A History of Architecture in All Countries, Volume 2, 3rd ed. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by James Fergusson

“Very soon Debauch rose before me in all the majesty of its horror, and I grasped all that it meant.
— from The Magic Skin by Honoré de Balzac