She was clad in brown velvet; as I walked in her shadow, how I envied her those folds of grave, dark majesty!
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

As to the goldsmith, he wrote to his wife, sending her the order for the thousand pistoles, and charging her to send him, in exchange, his most skillful apprentice, an assortment of diamonds, of which he gave the names and the weight, and the necessary tools.
— from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

See, he is embarrassed himself.
— from The Sea-Gull by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Finding that nothing would satisfy him, I evaded his questions after the first score or two, and in particular pleaded ignorance respecting the name of the fur whereof the coat was made.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

The spectacle usually provided is strangely wanting in attraction: a couple of women shuffling their feet and swaying their hands in gestures that are practically devoid of grace or even variety—that is the Malay dance—and it is accompanied by the beating of native drums, the striking together of two short sticks held in either hand, and the occasional boom of a metal gong.
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

The world has turned shopkeeper; history is economic history; living is earning a living.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

When Sir James came, he appeared all astonishment and perplexity; the folly of the young man and the confusion of Frederica entirely engrossed him; and though a little private discourse with Lady Susan has since had its effect, he is still hurt, I am sure, at her allowing of such a man's attentions to her daughter.
— from Lady Susan by Jane Austen

Camilla , composed by Marco Antonio Buononcini, and said to contain beautiful music, was produced at Sir John Vanbrugh's Haymarket opera in 1705, and sung half in English, half in Italian; Mrs. Tofts singing the part of the Amazonian heroine in English, and Valentini that of the hero in Italian.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

He told the states-that he felt some hesitation in expressing his views.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1555-84) by John Lothrop Motley

but no sooner had it escaped him than he shrank as quick as lightning out of the Vekeel's reach; and Obada hardly heard him, for he did not allow himself to be interrupted by the Kadi but went on to explain in wrathful words what a disgrace it was to them, as men and judges, to have dust cast in their eyes by a woman, and allow themselves to be molified by the arts of a pair of love-stricken fools; and how desirable it must be in the eyes of every Moslem to guard the security of life and bring the severest punishment on the instigator of a sanguinary revolt against the champions of the Khaliff's power.
— from The Bride of the Nile — Volume 12 by Georg Ebers

“And as for that ’peaching old Corporal Blubber, I’ll Wan Spitter him if ever he turns up again to blow the gaff against my own dear Jemmy.”
— from Snarleyyow; or, The Dog Fiend by Frederick Marryat

"'Tonio has not half an ounce of fat in his hide," said Harris, in explaining his tireless work on the trail.
— from Tonio, Son of the Sierras: A Story of the Apache War by Charles King

After the custom of the place, then, she offered her cheek to Salvé, and was a little surprised when he seemed not to understand her meaning, and nodded merely, as he said, half in English, half in Spanish, "good evening, señorita."
— from The Pilot and his Wife by Jonas Lie

Notwithstanding he pursued his interrogation: "Do you believe in God?" "Yes, more than you do," said the Maid, who, knowing nothing of the good Brother, was somewhat hasty in esteeming herself better grounded in the faith than he.
— from The Life of Joan of Arc, Vol. 1 and 2 by Anatole France