Chapter CLXXVI: Act III: Scene I. The Cours de la Reine, Paris, on the day of a

popular fête. Stalls of traders are among the trees. There is a pavilion for dancing. After some lively preliminary episodes between the three actresses and _Guillot_, _De Brétigny_ enters with _Manon_. She sings a clever "Gavotte." It begins, "Obéissons, quand leur voix appelle" (List to the voice of Youth when it calleth).

The _Count des Grieux_, father of the _Chevalier_, comes upon the scene. From a conversation between him and _De Brétigny_, which _Manon_ overhears, she learns that the _Chevalier_ is about to enter the seminary of St. Sulpice and intends to take holy orders. After a duet between _Manon_ and the _Count_, who retires, the girl enters her chair, and bids the wondering _Lescaut_ to have her conveyed to the seminary.

Scene II. Parlour in the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Nuns and visitors, who have just attended religious service, are praising the sermon delivered by _Des Grieux_, who enters a little later attired in the garb of an abbé. The ladies withdraw, leaving _Des Grieux_ with his father, who has come in unobserved, and now vainly endeavours to dissuade his son from taking holy orders. Left alone, _Des Grieux_ cannot banish _Manon_ from his thoughts. "Ah! fuyez douce image" (Ah! depart, image fair), he sings, then slowly goes out.

Almost as if in answer to his soliloquy, the woman whose image he cannot put away enters the parlour. From the chapel chanting is heard. Summoned by the porter of the seminary, _Des Grieux_ comes back. He protests to _Manon_ that she has been faithless and that he shall not turn from the peace of mind he has sought in religious retreat.

Gradually, however, he yields to the pleading of the woman he loves. "N'est-ce plus ma main que cette main presse?... Ah! regarde-moi! N'est-ce plus Manon?" ("Is it no longer my hand, your own now presses?... Ah! look upon me! Am I no longer Manon?") The religious chanting continues, but now only as a background to an impassioned love duet--"Ah! Viens, Manon, je t'aime!" (Ah, Manon, Manon! I love thee.)

Act IV. A fashionable gambling house in Paris. Play is going on. _Guillot_, _Lescaut_, _Poussette_, _Javotte_, and _Rosette_ are of the company. Later _Manon_ and _Des Grieux_ come in. _Manon_, who has run through her lover's money, counsels the _Chevalier_ to stake what he has left on the game. _Des Grieux_ plays in amazing luck against _Guillot_ and gathers in winning after winning. "Faites vos jeux, Messieurs," cry the croupiers, while _Manon_ joyously sings, "Ce bruit de l'or, ce rire, et ces éclats joyeux" (Music of gold, of laughter, and clash of joyous sounds). The upshot of it all, however, is that _Guillot_ accuses the _Chevalier_ of cheating, and after an angry scene goes out. Very soon afterwards, the police, whom _Guillot_ has summoned, break in. Upon _Guillot's_ accusation they arrest _Manon_ and the _Chevalier_. "Ô douleur, l'avenir nous sépare" (Oh despair! Our lives are divided for ever), sings _Manon_, her accents of grief being echoed by those of her lover.