Mr. Bounderby has made his proposal of marriage to me, and has entreated me to make it known to you, and to express his hope that you will take it into your favourable consideration.’
— from Hard Times by Charles Dickens

His easy bearing shows freedom without pride; his manners are lively but not boisterous; sympathy makes his glance softer and his expression more pleasing; the young girl, seeing him weep, is ready to mingle her tears with his.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

‘Not he!’ exclaimed Matilda, somewhat contemptuously.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

The crafty nincompoop takes to his heels, scared with the idea that among a thousand such atoms of mortality her eye must have detected him.
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

But there were certain dim and shadowy lights in which, meeting Phoebe Marks gliding softly through the dark oak passages of the Court, or under the shrouded avenues in the garden, you might have easily mistaken her for my lady.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

“You should not undervalue knowledge before Pansy, who has not finished her education,” Madame Merle interposed with a smile.
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James

Unlike his brother he emigrated, and in his exile met with a cordial reception by the Dulmen branch of the Rivaudoults of Arschoot, a family with which he had some relationship.
— from Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z by Anatole Cerfberr

When they argued also that what is highly expedient may prove to be morally right, they ought rather to say not that it "may prove to be" but that [391] it actually is morally right.
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

I gave her mother a form of letter to write to Miss Halcombe, exonerating me from any bad motive in putting her under restraint.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Perhaps the widening of the educational field, the world's fuller acknowledgment of woman's varied ability, her easier mastery of delicate technique, a more habitual access to a writing-pad—perhaps all these combine with other facts and circumstances to encourage her in this prolific output of marketable fiction.
— from Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories by H. G. (Harrison Griswold) Dwight

Her eyes met those of Captain Sol Berry, the depot master.
— from The Depot Master by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

In the "natural history" stage of human existence marriage rested on the free consent of the man and the woman.
— from A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3 by George Elliott Howard

"We were met, on our approach to the town, or rather walled village, consisting almost entirely of tents and huts, by some of its Jewish inhabitants, the females bearing banners composed of silk handkerchiefs, embroidered muslin sashes, and other articles of female finery.
— from Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume 2 (of 2) Comprising Their Life and Work as Recorded in Their Diaries, from 1812 to 1883 by Montefiore, Judith Cohen, Lady

Had this officer possessed an energetic and enterprising character, he might, without much difficulty, have collected a force of light and active soldiers, which might have hung upon the rear of the Persians, intercepted their convoys, cut off their stragglers, and have even made an occasional dash upon their lines.
— from The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7: The Sassanian or New Persian Empire The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

His eyes met the Lord Proprietor's without servility as without disrespect, but with a kind of patient wonder.
— from Major Vigoureux by Arthur Quiller-Couch

But at the sight of her cousin her exultation melted into sincere compassion.
— from Edelweiss: A Story by Berthold Auerbach

When one negro race barters the salt with another, the first party comes to the place agreed on, and lays down the salt in heaps, each man marking his own heap by some token.
— from Prince Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394-1460 A.D. With an Account of Geographical Progress Throughout the Middle Ages As the Preparation for His Work. by C. Raymond (Charles Raymond) Beazley

Before the lieutenant had reached his first house, every man in the village was in the woods, innocent and guilty alike.
— from Army Life in a Black Regiment by Thomas Wentworth Higginson

"Before he engaged me, I was with the Wilsons, of Hull, running up the Baltic."
— from The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love by William Le Queux