Would he go?
There was no way out of it.

Jefferson tried to work up some enthusiasm for this yachting trip, which he knew very well could never come off, and it cut him to the heart to see this poor girl joyously making all these preparations and plans, little dreaming of the domestic calamity which at that very moment was hanging over her head.
[Photo, from the play, of the Ryder household as Jefferson is introduced to Miss Green.] "Father, I've changed my mind, I'm not going away."-- Act II.
It was nearly ten o'clock when they had finished.

They sat a little longer listening to the gipsy music, weird and barbaric.
Very pointedly, Shirley remarked: "I for one preferred the music this afternoon." "Why ?" inquired Jefferson, ignoring the petulant note in her voice.
"Because you were more amiable!" she retorted rather crossly.
This was their first misunderstanding, but Jefferson said nothing.
He could not tell her the thoughts and fears that had been haunting him all night.

Soon afterward they re-entered their cab and returned to the boulevards which were ablaze with light and gaiety.

Jefferson suggested going somewhere else, but Mrs.Blake was tired and Shirley, now quite irritated at what she considered Jefferson's unaccountable unsociability, declined somewhat abruptly.