at the
present moment. Behind the sleeper stands an old cask, which serves for a table.
At the
present moment (August, 1853) there is a suit before the court which was commenced nearly twenty years ago, in which from thirty to forty counsel have been known to appear at one time, in which costs have been incurred to the amount of seventy thousand pounds, which is A FRIENDLY SUIT, and which is
That desire has never been so strong as at the
present moment."
"Otherwise," said he, "I shall have no choice but to marry a certain merchant's daughter in Moscow, in order that I may keep my vow to deprive my nephew of the inheritance.--Then he pressed five hundred roubles into my hand--to buy myself some bonbons, as he phrased it--and wound up by saying that in the country I should grow as fat as a doughnut or a cheese rolled in butter; that at the
present moment he was extremely busy; and that, deeply engaged in business though he had been all day, he had snatched the present opportunity of paying me a visit.
"Never have I seen my ugliness as at the
present moment. When I compare myself to you, I feel a very great pity for myself, poor unhappy monster that I am!
"Well, at the
present moment she would refuse to accept my services," said he with a gesture.
We have had two murders occurring in two days, which have this much, at least, in common--that they have been the work of so accomplished a criminal that at the
present moment, although I should not like to tell every one as much, we have not in either case the ghost of a clue."
But I wish you a very good night, concluding with this slight remark, that there is a young lady growing up at this
present moment for me, who has not only great personal attractions but great wealth, and who has requested her next of kin to propose for my hand, which, having a regard for some members of her family, I have consented to promise.
She was left, at the present writing, without a relation in the world -- excepting, perhaps, certain cousins whom she had never seen, and of whose existence even, at the
present moment, she possessed no positive knowledge.
I am a-keeping that young man from harming of you at the
present moment, with great difficulty.
"Unfortunately," I continued, "owing to your foolish arrangement not to tell each other where you were going and not to write, as being incompatible with Perfect Trust, you don't know where Orlando is at the
present moment."
This diversity of sentiment between a majority of the people, and the individuals who have the greatest credit in their councils, is exemplified in some of the States at the
present moment, on the present question.