Act III. The scene is an open place in Paris before a chapel, where

_de Nevers_, who has renewed his engagement with _Valentine_, is to take her in marriage. The nuptial cortège enters the building. The populace is restless, excited. Religious differences still are the cause of enmity. The presence of Royalist and Huguenot soldiers adds to the restlessness of the people. _De Nevers_, _St. Bris_, and another Catholic nobleman, _Maurevert_, come out from the chapel, where _Valentine_ has desired to linger in prayer. The men are still incensed over what appears to them the shameful conduct of _Raoul_ toward _Valentine_. _Marcel_ at that moment delivers to _St. Bris_ a challenge from _Raoul_ to fight a duel. When the old Huguenot soldier has retired, the noblemen conspire together to lead _Raoul_ into an ambush. During the duel, followers of _St. Bris_, who have been placed in hiding, are suddenly to issue forth and murder the young Huguenot nobleman.

From a position in the vestibule of the chapel, _Valentine_ has overheard the plot. She still loves _Raoul_ and him alone. How shall she warn him of the certain death in store for him? She sees _Marcel_ and counsels him that his master must not come here to fight the duel unless he is accompanied by a strong guard. As a result, when _Raoul_ and his antagonist meet, and _St. Bris's_ soldiers are about to attack the Huguenot, _Marcel_ summons the latter's followers from a nearby inn. A street fight between the two bodies of soldiers is imminent, when the _Queen_ and her suite enter. A gaily bedecked barge comes up the river and lays to at the bank. It bears _de Nevers_ and his friends. He has come to convey his bride from the chapel to his home. And now _Raoul_ learns, from the Queen, and to his great grief, that he has refused the hand of the woman who loved him and who had gone to _de Nevers_ in order to ask him to release her from her engagement with him.