The house does not solicit; it receives. What follows is the protocol by which a letter, properly composed, becomes a letter the Chamberlain will read.
Letters shall be written upon cotton paper of substantial weight, no less than one hundred grams to the square metre, of a hue not whiter than the natural fibre. Wove paper is preferred to laid; cream is preferred to white; coloured papers are returned without comment.
Watermarks of the petitioner's house, if any, shall appear in the upper-left quadrant when the sheet is held to the light.
Letters shall be written in the petitioner's own hand. Letters set in type, struck by machine, or composed by other hands than the petitioner's are read once, for the form of the matter, and not again.
The hand shall be of a stable character throughout. Letters which exhibit two hands — the body in one, the closing in another — are returned to the address of the closing.
Ink: black, or the petitioner's house ink. Pencil is not received.
Letters are received at the seat between the third hour after sunrise and the third hour after midday, on weekdays save those which fall upon a feast of the western calendar. Letters delivered outside these hours are accepted at the door but are not opened until the next admissible interval.
The Chamberlain reads the day's letters between matins and terce of the following morning. Replies, when sent, are dispatched at his discretion.
The salutation shall be: To the Office of the Chamberlain, Marlowe Holdings Group, Old Belgravia. No further address is required, nor is any further address read.
The letter shall state, briefly, the petitioner's house or office, the matter, and the petitioner's standing in the matter. Letters which exceed two pages are read to the second page.
Letters shall be closed with the petitioner's hand and, where the petitioner's house holds one, the petitioner's seal in wax. Adhesive seals are not seals.
The house does not acknowledge receipt. The petitioner is asked not to write to confirm that an earlier letter has arrived; if it has, it has, and a second letter on the matter delays consideration of both.
Letters which receive no reply have, in the judgement of the Chamberlain, received the reply they merit.