rejected return counted against five efiles

I successfully e filed four Federal returns this spring.  A fifth return was rejected and had to be mailed in.

Today, I attempted to e file a fifth return for another friend (while late, he was getting a refund) and the attempt was rejected with msg that 5 free e files had already been used.  

 

The only possible explanation was that earlier failed attempt was indeed counted towards the five free filings.