Sentence:  Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a <WSD>hopeless</WSD> mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Without hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive.