On the thirty-fifth day a bath of a certain temperature was given the neophyte and on the following day the third and last grain of the _materia prima_ was taken in a cup of precious wine, after which the seeker fell into a gentle, undisturbed sleep, during which a new skin appeared, and also the hair and teeth shed two days before were miraculously renewed. On his awakening he was placed in an aromatic herb bath. On the thirty-eighth day of the ordeal an ordinary water bath in which saltpeter had been dissolved was taken, the votary then resuming his habit and exercising his limbs, and on the following day ten drops of the elixir of life, or "grandmaster's elixir" or "balsam" were administered in two large spoonfuls of red wine. The fortieth day ended the period of perfection, and the votary being now restored to the state of innocence man had before the fall, left his hut or cell with the power to lengthen his earthly existence to the limit of five thousand five hundred and fifty-seven years, in perfect health and contentment. After this came the forty days moral regeneration, which if successfully passed, gave the seeker power to communicate with the spirit world. Small wonder that I was strongly set against this perilous and utterly foolish thing. But I found the next day Sonnlein was stubbornly resolved he would undergo it; and though I had great comfort in the thought that it wanted some months ere May were here, yet, even this solace was quickly denied me, as he declared his intention of suffering the purification at once. To this even our poor, benighted Brother Benno objected, for he held that the slightest deviation from the prescribed particulars of the process would render the whole without avail. But as Sonnlein declared he would go off in the woods and take the ordeal himself--and I knew in his sicklied state he would do so--Brother Benno and I finally compromised with the stubborn youth by going to "Ararat," the second floor of Zion, where Sonnlein took one of the thirteen cells for himself while Brother Benno and I each took an adjoining cell. Here in this deserted old chapter house, relic of the pride and folly of the poor Eckerlings, we lived all alone for almost a week, and never in my life was week longer; for though Brother Benno and I attended all the services, yet the solicitude of the Brothers and Sisters was such--they believing that we had moved Sonnlein to the hill for purer air in his illness--that Brother Benno and I were not permitted to do any of our usual work. This, indeed, suited our purpose most opportunely, for Brother Benno desired to keep constant watch over the treatment, while I was resolved to keep strict watch over my boy's safety.