And, uncle, he came back without ever getting in sight of the man, though he rode until morning before he turned back; isn’t it too bad for––” Something in that strange silence of the man in the chair suddenly checked the speech on her lips, and with a quick movement she was in front of him, looking in his face, into the eyes which turned towards her with a strange, horrible expression in them, and the lips vainly trying to speak, to give her warning.
— from The Bondwoman by Marah Ellis Ryan

It was manifest from all sides to the friends of universal freedom that other means than those hitherto relied upon must be found, if any progress was to be made in the advancement of liberty, yea if the evident retrogression in respect to this prime element of political civilization was to be checked.
— from The Middle Period, 1817-1858 by John William Burgess

Then having rolled up my bed, and carried it into the servants' hall, I issued from home, with the intention of bathing, and making my person sweet, preparatory to my evening's assignation.
— from The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Justinian Morier

I had heard these horrible recitals until my blood curdled, and I saw there was no hope but in leaving this hell upon earth.
— from Thirteen Months in the Rebel Army Being a Narrative of Personal Adventures in the Infantry, Ordnance, Cavalry, Courier, and Hospital Services; With an Exhibition of the Power, Purposes, Earnestness, Military Despotism, and Demoralization of the South by William G. Stevenson

In moments of weakness the irresistible longing to go to her returns upon me, but it is she whose Athênê vision impels to throw it off, to stand ground firmly and push forward with determination towards the years which must be endured, and the glorious work which calk to be achieved.
— from The Young Seigneur Or, Nation-Making by W. D. (William Douw) Lighthall