I take her under my protection from this day.”
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I was thinking of him on the sea all the time after at mass when my petticoat began to slip down at the elevation weeks and weeks I kept the handkerchief under my pillow for the smell of him there was no decent perfume to be got in that Gibraltar only that cheap peau dEspagne that faded and left a stink on you more than anything else I wanted to give him a memento he gave me that clumsy Claddagh ring for luck that I gave Gardner going to south Africa where those Boers killed him with their war and fever
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

Had any person laid their hands upon my papers whilst they remained in the Hotel de Luxembourg?
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

At supper I found him insipid in conversation, drunken, ignorant, and ill disposed, and I already repented of having taken him under my protection; but the thing was done.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Leah was sure of victory, and without a word she threw herself upon me, pressing her lips to mine, and depriving me of all my faculties except one.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

I trust that when I see you in the evening, I will be able to report that I have been able to do something for this unfortunate youngster, who has thrown himself upon my protection.”
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

So they left off beating Ilusha and I took him under my protection.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

why doesn't she come to hold up my poor weak head—to see how fervently my dead old heart has at last learnt to love—to help a bad, and hard, a pardoned and penitent old man to die in perfect peace—to pray with me, for me, to God, our God, my daughter!
— from Heart: A Social Novel by Martin Farquhar Tupper

"If there were other travellers in the neighbourhood, would they not find themselves in the same situation as us, if not worse; and what you take for cries to help us may probably be, on the contrary, cries of distress."
— from The Flying Horseman by Gustave Aimard

“And all you want me to do in exchange,” Larry asked quietly, “is to hand up my pals?”
— from Children of the Whirlwind by Leroy Scott

"Gentlemen," Lind continued, returning to his unemotional manner, "personally, I consider it just that this man, whom the law cannot or does not choose to reach, should be punished for his long career of cruelty, oppression, and crime, and punished with death!
— from Sunrise by William Black

When ghosts that are supposed to have been laid for all time come back to haunt us, memory plays havoc with the strongest resolutions.
— from Miss Fairfax of Virginia: A Romance of Love and Adventure Under the Palmettos by St. George Rathborne

'Oh, certainly,' replied Blackbeard, 'only, as it appears to me quite probable, that these two young ladies will be exposed to great danger in getting on board of your noble ship, I shall claim the privilege of keeping them here under my protection until I learn the result of the engagement, which I am sure the piratical commander of the brig is about to venture upon.'
— from Blackbeard; Or, The Pirate of Roanoke. by B. (Benjamin) Barker

“Allow me,” he said, in his best manner, as he extended his hand to help up Miss Philock.
— from For the Honor of Randall: A Story of College Athletics by Lester Chadwick

I wish you to understand you cannot thrust him upon my privacy.
— from The Hungry Heart: A Novel by David Graham Phillips

Dr. Parr gladly associated with Unitarians, and went to Unitarian chapels to hear Unitarian ministers preach.
— from The Religious Life of London by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie