How would you interpret this phrase ‘a second bath’? How would you interpret this phrase ‘a second bath’ in the fifth sentence? How many times do you think he heated the egg? Twice or thrice? I think he heated the egg thrice. If he heated the egg twice, the author would have used ‘the second bath’ instead of ‘a second bath’. What do you think? Thanks. And it’s taken from The Egg by Sherwood Anderson. the context: When the egg had been heated in vinegar, father carried it on a spoon to the counter and going into a back room got an empty bottle. He was angry because his visitor did not watch him as he began to do his trick, but nevertheless went cheerfully to work. For a long time he struggled, trying to get the egg to go through the neck of the bottle. He put the pan of vinegar back on the stove, intending to reheat the egg, then picked it up and burned his fingers. After a second bath in the hot vinegar, the shell of the egg had been softened a little but not enough for his purpose.