I am so old now I can say these things and not be misjudged; for even some sensible people think this honest sort of fellowship impossible if not improper.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

I don’t mean to say that I regret my action, nor will I pretend that I can’t sleep o’ nights in consequence; still, the idea obtrudes itself that he made so much of his disgrace while it is the guilt alone that matters.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

Whether he exerted himself strenuously or not I cannot say, but he told me that the very circumstance of his having been “in the Philanthropic” was fatal to his success.
— from London Labour and the London Poor (Vol. 1 of 4) by Henry Mayhew

Most of the land, resulting from the decomposition of the tufas, is of extreme fertility; and, therefore, we find on the Pacific side of Nicaragua, indigo, coffee, sugar, cacao, and tobacco growing with the greatest luxuriance.
— from The Naturalist in Nicaragua by Thomas Belt

Time after time I passed through the booking-office, and out upon the long balcony whence the stairs lead down to the platform, until, almost on the stroke of nine, I caught sight of the woman I loved, neatly dressed, but a trifle worn and pale.
— from The Bond of Black by William Le Queux

Whether it was because the temperature within the small building was too sultry or not I cannot say, but the vaccinator decided to complete his work in the open air, the fact that a dust-storm was raging notwithstanding.
— from Sixteen Months in Four German Prisons: Wesel, Sennelager, Klingelputz, Ruhleben by Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot

Whether, when it came to the point, I should have done so, or not, I cannot say, because it would have depended upon his behaviour at the time.
— from Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 4 by Samuel Richardson

Whether this is so or not, I cannot say, but the signs are ominous; for James Montjoy and Mary Oakum take long walks by moonlight, and Sam spends every evening at General Morris's, and other tokens tell plainly what things are coming to.
— from I've Been Thinking; or, the Secret of Success by A. S. (Azel Stevens) Roe

Whether I succeeded or not I cannot say, and it was only by God's mercy that I reached my aunt's house.
— from Miser Farebrother: A Novel (vol. 3 of 3) by B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon

Whether it was really so or not I cannot say, but this I know, that from the time of our arrival in the Chesapeake, all acts of individual plunder or violence were strictly prohibited, and severely punished.
— from The Campaigns of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans 1814-1815 by G. R. (George Robert) Gleig

Whether this were so or not, I cannot say; but it is certain that she helped Miles Nutter to get rid of his wife, and procured him a second spouse, in return for which services he bestowed upon her an old ruined tower on his domains."
— from The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest by William Harrison Ainsworth