May, having revealed all her research, had to wait til the next day for Muriel to announce what she had found out.

“I have all sorts of boring details that I copied from the books for the family tree. But then, last night, I was looking through some of my father’s old books and I came across Webster’s Biographical Dictionary. So just for fun I looked up Paulet in it, and this is what I found. It is really a summary of what I had already found but much more concise.

‘Sir Annas Paulet – 1536 -1588 Lt. Governor of Jersey – commissioner at trial of Mary Queen of Scots and famous as her Puritan guardian – refused to takes suggestions to murder her privately.

‘Sir William Paulet – 1485-1572 First Marquis of Winchester – honoured by Henry VIII. Lord President of Council and one of Council of Regency. Lord Treasurer 1547. Joined Lords at Baynard Castle who proclaimed Queen Mary in place of Lady Jane Gray. Also gained favour of Queen Elizabeth and was treasurer (1550-72).

‘Grandson William Paulet (1535-1598) Third Marquis of Winchester commissioner at trial of Mary Queen of Scots – Lord Steward at her funeral.

‘John Paulet (1598-1675) [I think this was the one we were talking about yesterday].The great loyalist’ after fortifying and garrisoning Basing House in Hampshire against Cromwell (1643-45) suffered by imprisonment and loss of property.’

‘Isn’t that interesting,’ interjected May. ‘All along I thought he was against the King and for Cromwell when we were reading it yesterday. It must have meant that those who tried and condemned him were Cromwell’s men even though they were in the House of Lords. Do you remember how we commented on the words, pretend Parliament. Well now we know what they meant. ’

‘Charles Paulet (1625-1699) – against Stuart cause – supported Whigs and William of Orange on his landing. Precipitated Marlborough’s disgrace by disclosing to the King.

‘Charles Paulet (1661-1722) – 7th Marquis of Winchester – Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

‘Charles Paulet (1685-1754) 8th Marquis of Winchester – deprived of offices because of opposition to William Walpole Married an actress, Laurissa Fenton, in 1751.

‘Harry Paulet (1715-1794) 11th Marquis of Winchester.’

‘And not a Peter Paulet amongst them all. How disappointing for you,’ said May.

‘Well, my informant might have had the first name wrong, but there must have been some evidence for her claims. Anyway, back to our research. One reference I wanted to find again was the one relating to Anne Bolyne. Here it is and this is about William Paulet, the 1st Marquis of Winchester:

‘When the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out in the Autumn, Paulet took joint-charge of the musters of the Royal Forces and himself raised two hundred men. As the rebels complained of the exclusion of noblemen from the King’s Council, Henry reminded them of the presence of Paulet and others. In carrying out his Royal Master’s commands, he was not, it would appear, unnecessarily harsh. Anne Boleyn excepted him from her complaints against the council: ‘the controller was a very gentleman’ she admitted.’

‘It goes on a good bit more, but I thought that was an interesting point. Amyas Paulet, a nephew I presume, who was in the king’s service at the same time, is also an interesting character.

‘He was Mary Queen of Scot’s last jailer. His first action was to take down Mary’s cloth of state with her famous motto ‘In my End is my Beginning’ which she had hanging over her chair in all her prisons since the days of Shrewsbury. Paulet was a Puritan who found Mary irritating and tiresome as well as offensive to his high principles. He repeatedly ignored her complaints regarding her health and eliminated her outings to Buxton Baths on the pretext that by her alms to the poor she might gain popular support. She was not even allowed to take the air nor to receive any correspondence except from the French Ambassador. He refused to baptised the child of one of Mary’s servants, and was scandalised when Mary baptised the baby as a Catholic herself. By the time the Babington Plot was taking shape, Mary had to be moved to Chartley due to her ill health. It was during that time that Paulet broke into her apartments while she was lying ill in bed and unceremoniously seized her money under Elizabeth’s instructions. Paulet was entrusted with several letters from Mary to Elizabeth and others. He delayed dispatching these for fear that Elizabeth might be touched by them and evoke the Death Warrant. It took almost a year for the other letters to be received by the addressees. Paulet also attended Mary’s execution and was Knighted after it.’

‘I don’t think he sounds like a relative that I would want to boast about,’ said May. ‘Your other relation, William, was much kinder and more honest, from what we have read. Do you know what? I am getting a bit tired of all this. Let’s talk about something else. But in a way it is related, what if your ancestor had been the one to carry the royal title all the way through, what would you be called, a Marchioness?’

‘Well, I suppose that I would have that title only if I were married to the Marquis. I think the daughters are called Lady. I noticed in the paper that Lettice is a Countess – and of course her husband is an Earl. My ancestors were both Earls and Marquis, but I think a Marquis is more important.’

‘But even though we have done all this research, we are no nearer finding out about the ring, which was the whole reason for your searching in the first place. I think we are going in the wrong direction. Why don’t you write to that relative of your grandmother’s and find out the addresses of the other grandchildren of the Marchioness – if that is what she was – and then you can perhaps feel like you have accomplished something, even if it is to know that the ring has been sold, and nobody knows where it is.’

‘I did find out a few more interesting things.’

"Such as?"

‘The eldest son of a Marquess is by courtesy given his father’s second title, which should be the next rank down, which is Earl, but if his father doesn’t hold an earldom, he goes by whatever lesser title is available. Other children are Lords or Ladies with both the forename or surname. So if as you suggested our line had continued, and my father was the oldest son (which he wasn’t) he would be the Marquis of Winchester, if I had a brother (which I don’t) he would be the Earl of Wiltshire, and I would be Lady Muriel Paulet.

‘You would normally address as Marquis as ‘My Lord’ and address an envelope to ‘The Most Honourable the Marquess of Winchester,’ but the letter itself would start, ‘My Lord.’ But it also said in the book that things are not nearly so formal as that today, so you can forget the most honourable part, and write ‘Dear Lord Winchester.’

‘Is that what you did when you wrote to the Earl of Beauchamp?’

‘I’m sure I didn’t write it as formally as they suggested. I just said, ‘Dear Earl and Countess Beauchamp’ but I am ever so pleased that Lettice asked us to call her by her given name. And she didn’t want me to curtsy or anything like that, but she never let me forget by her mannerisms that I was talking to someone of quality.

‘No wonder you are finding out that having noble ancestors is so interesting. They really were given a great deal of importance, almost like the royal family themselves. Yet they only came by their titles because they did something to please the King.’

‘And not only did my noble family make an impact in England, there is even mention of an old town in America which is named after them. It is called Winchester, in New Hampshire and in 1733 was named in honour of Sir Charles Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, and there is still a church there which was founded in 1736.’

‘That isn’t very old for a church.’

‘It is in America.’

As it was getting time for dinner, May said she would see Muriel again soon, and left, saying that her head hurt with all that she had learned about her noble neighbour, and curtsied upon leaving with a wicked grin on her face.