Are there twenty-six or nearly twenty-six different characters, in the one hundred and one I find inscribed on the various slips spread out before me?
No, there are but fourteen.

A check to begin with.
But wait; the dots make a difference.

Let us increase the list by assuming that angles or squares thus marked are different letters from those of the same shape in which no dots or sketches occur, and we bring the list up to twenty.

That is better.
The dotted or otherwise marked squares or angles are separate characters.
Now, which one of these appears most frequently?
The square, which we have already decided must be either a or i.

In the one short word or phrase we are at present considering, it occurs twice.