As to the fraud on Madeline herself, his visitor knew so little about its nature or extent, that it might be a lucky guess, or a hap-hazard accusation.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

“It certainly did cross my mind that it might be a little dull—less for you, perhaps, than for your sister.”
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

King Olaf said he thought it must be a lucky day for them, since they had landed at Saela in Norway; and observed it was a good omen that it so happened.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

While I am aware of the great importance of discovering a sure method of setting in motion simultaneously a large mass of troops at the will of the commander, I am convinced that it must be a long time before the problem is solved.
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

That I may be at least as honest, I want time to take counsel with myself.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

God send that it mid be a lie, for though Henery Fray and some of 'em do speak against her, she's never been anything but fair to me.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

And there should be no question of virtue in all this, it must be a labour of love, without which the human race would be doomed to extinction.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Oh, I do hope, if I ever reach there, I may be a little angel, so that she can take me into her arms, and press me into her warm, loving bosom just as she used to.
— from Our Girls by Dio Lewis

As I was walking by the Thicket’s Side, where I met with her Majesty’s most venerable chief Eunuch, and the King’s most illustrious chief Huntsman, I perceiv’d upon the Sand the Footsteps of an Animal, and I [27] easily inferr’d that it must be a little one.
— from Zadig; Or, The Book of Fate by Voltaire

As I wish it over, I wish it to come, but withal wish that it may be as light as possible.
— from The Writings of Thomas Paine — Volume 1 (1774-1779): The American Crisis by Thomas Paine

I was even afraid that it might be a lecture.
— from The Gland Stealers by Bertram Gayton

He felt that it must be a letter from Femke to him.
— from Walter Pieterse: A Story of Holland by Multatuli

I understood afterward that Mrs. Jameson did not allow her daughters to wear their best clothes generally to our village festivities, but kept them for occasions in the city, since their fortunes were reduced, thinking that their old finery, though it might be a little the worse for wear, was good enough for our unsophisticated eyes.
— from The Jamesons by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

The site of the fusillade, by which two hundred and seven royalists perished at one time, is marked by a large chapel, dedicated to the memory of the victims, in the erection of which they are now proceeding.
— from Itinerary of Provence and the Rhone Made During the Year 1819 by John Hughes

They live so far away that it may be a long time before they will see you again."
— from Stories Worth Rereading by Various

The men took considerable time in arranging their morning toilet, saying to one another that it might be a long time before they would get back, and that the trial court could do nothing without their presence, so there was no hurry.
— from History of Linn County Iowa From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time [1911] by Luther Albertus Brewer