Act 3 opens with music describing moonlight at night. People are dancing in the Moot Hall. People are very merry. Mrs. Sedley tries to tell people that Grimes is a murderer, but they do not listen. People then start to leave, saying “Goodnight” to one another (especially the Rector). Balstrode is walking with Ellen. He tells her that Grimes’s boat is in, but Grimes cannot be found. A boy’s jersey has been washed up on the shore. Ellen sings an aria “Embroidery in childhood was a luxury of idleness”. It is a moment of stillness in the drama.