At the time the latter flourished, there were no facilities in London for a woman, unattended by a man, to obtain refreshment beyond a weak cup of tea at a few confectioners'.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

He had even thought of retreating beyond a curvature in the natural wall, which might still conceal him and his companions, when by the sudden gleam of intelligence that shot across the features of the savage, he saw it was too late, and that they were betrayed.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper

Sunday morning, apropos of nothing at all, he thought of Rue Barrée, and ten seconds afterwards he saw her.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

It was probably the only really bright and cheery hour she had known lately.
— from The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories by Mark Twain

We were, of course, very excited, and busily engaged, as we approached, in estimating the probability of their offering resistance; but as the "Argus" was laid alongside the "Sir George Grey," we saw the crew rapidly disappearing over the other side into shore boats with which they had already provided themselves.
— from A Diplomat in Japan The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period by Ernest Mason Satow

The ample measure of the Exarchate might comprise all the provinces of Italy which had obeyed the emperor and his vicegerent; but its strict and proper limits were included in the territories of Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara: its inseparable dependency was the Pentapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic from Rimini to Ancona, and advanced into the midland-country as far as the ridges of the Apennine.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

It was old enough now, and dreary enough, for nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other rooms being all let out as offices.
— from A Christmas Carol in Prose; Being a Ghost Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens

Moreover, the natural corruptness of her speech overcoming her implacable republicanism, she still said instinctively "the de La Trémoïlles," or, rather (by an abbreviation sanctified by the usage of music-hall singers and the writers of the 'captions' beneath caricatures, who elide the 'de'), "the d'La Trémoïlles," but she corrected herself at once to "Madame La Trémoïlle.—The Duchess , as Swann calls her," she added ironically, with a smile which proved that she was merely quoting, and would not, herself, accept the least responsibility for a classification so puerile and absurd.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

Action, as you and Stephen once taught me, and I think wisely, was to prove to our rulers by an agitation, orderly and intellectual, that we were sensible of our degradation; and that it was neither Christianlike nor prudent, neither good nor wise, to let us remain so.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

he presently ventured, with just a suspicion of insolence in his attitude, but laughing until he showed teeth of remarkable beauty and whiteness.
— from Alice of Old Vincennes by Maurice Thompson

Consequently, the only societies which actually exist are those of religious bodies, against whom a heavy war is being made at this moment; for the natural tendency of sick persons is to quarrel with remedies and often with physicians.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

“Shortly after this conversation we came back to Shoshong, where I sold my ivory, and then, with empty waggon and the oxen refreshed by a good rest, set our faces for the river.
— from From Veldt Camp Fires by H. A. (Henry Anderson) Bryden

There is no legal provision whatever for the relief or support of the poor included in the denominations stated above; casual charity is the only resource; but as the natives for the most part remain in [200] the places where they were born, there are very few who have not some relations and acquaintance, from whom they receive occasional assistance.
— from Statement of the Provision for the Poor, and of the Condition of the Labouring Classes in a Considerable Portion of America and Europe Being the preface to the foreign communications contained in the appendix to the Poor-Law Report by Nassau William Senior

“The old Roman bridges are good for practically eternity, but these jerry steel things, run up for profits, go to pieces in a mere thousand years!
— from Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England

In the meanwhile, nothing, as it seems to me, should for the present be done, which might increase the excitement, aggravate the difficulties, or remove the only remaining barrier against immediate collision.
— from The Oregon Question by Albert Gallatin

That you have in effect started to go away—and not gone away—and yet must go away some time—and may go away at any minute: this consciousness, to a person standing first on one tired foot and then on the other, rapidly becomes almost, but never quite, unendurable.
— from The Perfect Gentleman by Ralph Bergengren

The archers appear to have done deadly execution; as they advanced nearer to the host of Israel, the latter would move backward to get out of range; while the Philistines, gaining confidence, would press them more and more, till the orderly retreat became a terrible rout.
— from The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Samuel by William Garden Blaikie