Meaning of "approach" in context [closed]

I have read the book Uncle Tom's Cabin.
At the beginning of the book, I saw a confusing sentence:

... and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be ...

Can you explain the meaning of "approaching" here?

Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P----, in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness.

"Approach" simply means "Coming nearer".
So here, it would mean that the chairs were being brought nearer to each other by the men.

Perhaps the conversation among them was so interesting that the men kept dragging their chairs nearer to each other, to be able to carry on the conversation more easily and closely.