(highest thanks)
two errors uncovered:

I had tried the pipe on the right earlier, but the count failed. In rechecking the code (it is part of a larger program), I discover that I was resetting the value in my while statement, though I am not sure how. The while statement was:

while (<R> && (count < 3))
{ ... }
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Now having removed the count < 3 *and* switching the pipe to the right, we have a winner.

Thank you all. I am astounded and delighted by the responsiveness by the visitors of this site. Truly, near tears to my eyes.