Step 1: Context: Butler’s distracted work due to overhearing an early scandal.
Step 2: Options: Hackneyed (overused), Perfunctory (cursory), Desultory (random),
Pervasive (widespread), Sordid (dirty); Implacable (unrelenting), Nascent (emerging),
Resolute (determined), Aggrandized (exaggerated), Boisterous (noisy).
Step 3: Perfunctory (done with little care) and Nascent (just beginning) fit distraction.
Step 4: Others mismatch task focus or scandal stage.