Aaron misunderstood him.

Was that any reason why he should not feel sorry for Aaron?
He crossed the hallan to the kitchen door, and stopped there, overcome with pity.

The warper was still crouching by the fire, but his head rested on his chest; he was a weary, desolate figure, and at the other side of the hearth stood an empty chair.

The picture was the epitome of his life, or so it seemed to the sympathetic soul at the door, who saw him passing from youth to old age, staring at the chair that must always be empty.

At the same moment Tommy saw his own future, and in it, too, an empty chair.