It's a shame to see her interrupted, and a greater shame still to realize that the interruption is directed at the girl. She has been singled out, she has been recognized, and a dim alarm of potential warning urges him to take care. Meeting anyone associated with an object of brief dalliance can add excess ties that may make breaking off more of an ungraceful struggle.

This, then, might be about the time to take his exit, though he'll hold his ground for the moment and take measure of the scene. Glancing periodically at the approaching figures - male, which could mean several things (none of them especially hopeful), and dimly familiar, though he can't yet place them - he favors Irma with an expression of mock despair, colored by the hint of a more genuine smirk. "It appears my lady is popular. Ought I to be jealous? Are there rivals I must needs fend off?"