I was reading a short story from Chekhov called "Который из трех?" when I came across a hyphenated suffix -с attached to certain words. Here are a few examples:
И при такой самой природе как приятно, знаете ли-с, любить такую приятную особу, как вы... Но я несчастлив!
Ни... ничего-с! Я хотел, собственно говоря, вас побеспокоить...
I couldn't find what it means. I even looked through my reference grammar book, but to no avail. I reckon it's either an archaic grammar (the story was published in 1882) or some very obscure one. I would like to know what it means, when is it used and to what sort of words can it be attached?