eive
such persons as were intending to travel by the public conveyances. One
of these omnibuses belonged to a large hotel and boarding house which
stands on the shore of the lake, not far from Villeneuve, between it and
the Castle of Chillon. You can see this hotel in the engraving. It is
the large building in the middle distance, standing back a little from
the lake, and to the left of the castle. This hotel is beautifully
situated in a commanding position on the shores of the lake, and is a
great place of resort for English families in the summer season.

The travellers that landed from the steamer at Villeneuve soon
separated, after arriving at the open square before the inn. Some took
their seats in the diligences that were standing there; some got into
the omnibuses to go to the hotel; some engaged voituriers from among the
number that were waiting there to be so employed, and, entering the
carriages, they drove away; while a party of students, with knapsacks on
their backs and pikestaves in their hands, set off on foot up the
valley. Mr. Holiday and his party, not intending to proceed any farther
that night, went directly to the inn.

They went first into the dining room. The dining room in the Swiss inns
is usually the only public room, and travellers on entering the inn
generally go directly there.

The dining room was very plain and simple in all its arrangements. There
was no carpet on the floor, and the woodwork was unpainted. There were
two windows in front, which looked out upon the lake. Directly beneath
the windows was the road, and the open space, already described, between
the hotel and the pier.

There was a boy with a knapsack on his back standing by the window,
looking out. Rollo went to the window, and began to look out too.

"Do you speak English?" said Rollo to the boy.

"_Nein_," said the boy, shaking his head.

_Nein_ is the German word for _no_. This Rollo knew very well, and so he
inferred that the boy was a German. He, however, thought it possible
that he might speak French, and so he asked again,--

"Do you speak French?"

"Very little," said the boy, answering now in the French language. "I am
studying it at school. I am at school at Berne, and my class is making
an excursion to Geneva."

"Do you travel on foot?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said the boy; "unless there is a steamboat, and then we go in the
steamboat."

"And I suppose you are going to take the steamboat here to-morrow