And persuading myself of that, I took it into my head next, just as obstinately, that "5 along" and "4 across" must be the right clew to find the letter by--principally because I hadn't left myself, after all my searching and thinking, even so much as the ghost of another guide to go by.

"Five along"-- where could I count five along the room, in any part of it?
Not on the paper.

The pattern there was pillars of trellis-work and flowers, inclosing a plain green ground--only four pillars along the wall and only two across.

The furniture?
There were not five chairs or five separate pieces of any furniture in the room altogether.

The fringes that hung from the cornice of the bed?
Plenty of them, at any rate! Up I jumped on the counterpane, with my pen-knife in my hand.
Every way that "5 along" and "4 across" could be reckoned on those unlucky fringes I reckoned on them--probed with my penknife--scratched with my nails--crunched with my fingers.