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"They are supposed to be the souls of persons who died impenitent," said
Thelma, "and they are doomed to wander, on the hills till the day of
judgment. It is a sort of purgatory."
Duprez shook his fingers emphatically in the air.
"Ah, bah!" he said; "what droll things remain still in the world! Yes,
in spite of liberty, equality, fraternity! You do not believe in foolish
legends, Mademoiselle? For example,--do you think you will suffer
purgatory?"
"Indeed yes!" she replied. "No one can be good enough to go straight to
heaven. There must be some little stop on the way in which to be sorry
for all the bad things one has done."
"'Tis the same idea as ours," said Gueldmar. "We have two places of
punishment in the Norse faith; one, _Nifleheim_, which is a temporary
thing like the Catholic purgatory; the other _Nastrond_, which is the
counterpart of the Christian hell. Know you not the description of
_Nifleheim_ in the _Edda_?--'tis terrible enough to satisfy all tastes.
'Hela, or Death rules over the Nine Worlds of Nifleheim.


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