He could see her fingers moving rapidly and mechanically at some pretty open-work pattern, and now and then grasping deftly at the ball of fine white thread that seemed to be ever taking little leaps, and trying to roll into the fire, or out over the cabin floor.
"The Eye of Dread"
Payne Erskine
People are so grasping, aren't they.
"The Furnace"
Rose Macaulay
"Oh, Miss Mary," added she, stopping and grasping her hand in both her own, "leave me to myself; don't come with me,-it's not one like you ought to keep me company."
"The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II)"
Charles James Lever