hoosing to be outdone in generosity by his lord) gave it to her.
And there was laughing among these ladies to think, when they got home,
how they would tax their husbands with giving away their rings, and
swear that they had given them as a present to some woman.

Portia, when she returned, was in that happy temper of mind which never
fails to attend the consciousness of having performed a good action; her
cheerful spirits enjoyed everything she saw: the moon never seemed to
shine so bright before; and when that pleasant moon was hid behind a
cloud, then a light which she saw from her house at Belmont as well
pleased her charmed fancy, and she said to Nerissa, "That light we see
is burning in my hall; how far that little candle throws its beams, so
shines a good deed in a naughty world;" and hearing the sound of music
from her house, she said, "Methinks that music sounds much sweeter than
by day."

And now Portia and Nerissa entered the house, and dressing themselves in
their own apparel, they awaited the arrival of their husbands, who soon
followed them with Antonio; and Bassanio presenting his dear friend to
the Lady Portia, the congratulations and welcomings of that lady were
hardly over, when they perceived Nerissa and her husband quarrelling in
a corner of the room. "A quarrel already?" said Portia. "What is the
matter?" Gratiano replied, "Lady, it is about a paltry gilt ring that
Nerissa gave me, with words upon it like the poetry on a cutler's knife;
_Love me, and leave me not._"

"What does the poetry or the value of the ring signify?" said Nerissa.
"You swore to me when I gave it to you, that you would keep it till the
hour of death; and now you say you gave it to the lawyer's clerk. I know
you gave it to a woman."--"By this hand," replied Gratiano, "I gave it
to a youth, a kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy, no higher than
yourself; he was clerk to the young counsellor that by his wise pleading
saved Antonio's life: this prating boy begged it for a fee, and I could
not for my life deny him." Portia said, "You were to blame, Gratiano,
to part with your wife's first gift. I gave my lord Bassanio a ring, and
I am sure he would not part with it for all the world." Gratiano, in
excuse for his fault, now said, "My lord Bassanio gave his ring away to
the counsellor, and then the boy, his clerk, that took some pains in
writing, he begged my ring."

Portia, hearing this, seemed very angry, and reproached Bassanio fo