Such an introduction would undoubtedly relieve him of a certain responsibility which had persisted in attaching itself to him.
So he tried to think.

But in spite of his resolution he could not get the empty chair opposite him out of his mind.

It refused to be obliterated, and when other chairs became vacant as their owners left the table, this one straight across from him continued to thrust itself upon him.

Until this morning it had been like other empty chairs.

Now it was persistently annoying, inasmuch as he had no desire to be so constantly reminded of last night, and the twelve o'clock tryst of Mary Standish with Graham's agent, Rossland.
He was the last at the table.