Toward the end of this war the real tendency was becoming manifest, and was still more plainly seen in the next, when the French navy had sunk to a yet lower state of weakness.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

Will you promise me to mention it, when you see them again? You will see them both this morning, I dare say.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen

I remember the time when I liked a red coat myself very well—and, indeed, so I do still at my heart; and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year, should want one of my girls I shall not say nay to him; and I thought Colonel Forster looked very becoming the other night at Sir William's in his regimentals.”
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

But—I say—is it really such a very small thing as you make it out?”
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad

With good speed: I would wish you, At such time as you are non-resident With your husband, my mistress. JULIA.
— from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

And I think it would be real nice for you to have something to amuse you
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

When she had found it, she performed a circular movement with her neck, straightened her boa, and fastened upon the collector, as she shewed her the end of yellow paper that stuck out over her bare wrist, the bewitching smile with which a woman says to a young man, pointing to her bosom: "You see, I'm wearing your roses!"
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

If you must be taken by God from me, let me see you thus even to the last, free from care and that cankering anxiety which has now for some time afflicted you.”
— from Ada, the Betrayed; Or, The Murder at the Old Smithy. A Romance of Passion by James Malcolm Rymer

" Grazzia, grazzia tanta! " said Leonora; "and here is what will protect you and yours from every bandit in Italy; show this, and you are safe."
— from The Weird of the Wentworths: A Tale of George IV's Time, Vol. 2 by Johannes Scotus

Two kindred septs, the Ayyal Yunis Nuh and the Ayyal Ahmed Nuh [9], established themselves originally at Berberah.
— from First Footsteps in East Africa by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

If any connector is still tight, and you cannot pry it off with a reasonable effort, drill down a little deeper, and it will come off easily, provided that the hole which you are drilling is exactly over the center of the post and as large as the post.
— from The Automobile Storage Battery: Its Care And Repair by Otto A. Witte

My sister is an excellent girl, but she has some romantic notions; not about such things as your Mr Eugene Wrayburns, but about the death of my father and other matters of that sort.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

I was so afraid she'd change her mind, and say 'There's good plain home-made cake with your schoolroom tea, and you must be content with that,' like she did to Nona and Muriel."
— from The Princess of the School by Angela Brazil

"I have come to you, brave white lord," she said, "to ask you if your people will grant us protection."
— from At the Point of the Bayonet: A Tale of the Mahratta War by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty