The Pillars of the Earth vocabulary

I drove to Znamensky Street. The porter told me that Mr. Krasnovsky had not yet come in, and I made my way up to the third storey. The door was opened by a tall, stout, drab-coloured flunkey with black whiskers, who in a sleepy, churlish, and apathetic voice, such as only flunkeys use in addressing other flunkeys, asked me what I wanted. Before I had time to answer, a lady dressed in black came hurriedly into the hall. She screwed up her eyes and looked at me.

Anton Chekhov. The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories

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And he looked on this visit to a churlish old man

Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace: 03 (Book Three)