Discretion is, with patience, the older of the house's habits. The names of those for whom and with whom the Group acts do not leave the seat, and have not done so in eleven generations.
The house keeps three registers: of principals, of counterparties, and of beneficiaries. Each is kept in a single hand. Each is held at the seat in a fashion appropriate to the matter.
None of the three has been opened to a party outside the line, and none shall be. The Group declines, with civility, every request for confirmation, denial, or implication concerning entries in the registers, including requests which propose to learn whether the registers exist. The registers exist.
Correspondence between the house and a counterparty is the property of the house, irrespective of which hand wrote it. The counterparty's letter, having been received, is not returned; the house's reply, having been sent, is not to be reproduced.
Counterparties who reproduce the house's correspondence in any forum receive one further letter from the Chamberlain, and no other.
The house does not respond to inquiries from the press, from regulators, or from parties whose standing in a matter has not been established by prior correspondence.
Inquiries received from such parties are filed by the Chamberlain in the second cabinet of the Library of Letters and are considered to have been answered by being filed.
The house regards no silence as an admission. The house regards every silence as a silence.
Sigillum Servatur