VILLENEUVE.
At Villeneuve, a pretty long, though small and very neatly made pier
projects out from the shore, for the landing of passengers from the
steamer.
Exactly opposite this pier, and facing the water, stands the inn. It is
placed very nearly on a level with the water. This can always be the
case with buildings standing on the margin of a lake, for a lake not
being subject to tides or inundations, all buildings, whether houses,
bridges, or piers, may be built very near the water, without any danger
of being overflowed.
Before the inn is an open space, extending between it and the shore; so
that from the front windows of the inn you can look down first upon this
open space, and beyond, upon the margin of the lake and upon the pier,
with the steamer lying at the landing-place at the head of it.
The sides of this square, Rollo observed, were formed of the ends of two
buildings which stood on the shore, and along this space were wooden
benches, which were filled, when the steamer arrived, with guides,
postilions, voituriers, and other people of that class, waiting to be
engaged by the travellers that should come in her.
There were also two or three omnibuses and diligences waiting to receive
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
morning to go to Geneva."
"No," said the boy; "we are going to see Chillon to-night, and then we
are going along the shore of the lake beyond, to Montreux, and take the
boat there to-morrow morning."
It was quite amusing to Rollo to talk thus with a strange boy in a
language which both had learned at school, and which neither of them
could speak well, but which was, nevertheless, the only language they
had in common.
"How many boys are there in your class?" asked Rollo.
"Sixteen," said the boy; "sixteen--six." The boy then held up the five
fingers of one hand, and one of the other, to show to Rollo that six was
the number he meant. The words six and sixteen are very similar in the
French language, and for a moment the boy confounded them.
"And the teacher too, I suppose," said Rollo.
"Yes," said the boy, "and the teacher."
Here there was a short pause.
"Are you going to Chillon?" said the boy to Rollo.
"Yes," said Rollo. "I am going with my father and mother."
"I wish you were going with us," said the boy.
"I wish so too," said Rollo; "I mean to ask my father to let me."
During this time Mr. Holiday had been making an arrangement with the
maid of the inn for two bedrooms, one for himself and his wife, and the
other for Rollo; and the maid was now just going to show the party the
way to their rooms. So Rollo went with his father, and after seeing that
all their effects were put in the rooms, he informed his father that he
had made acquaintance with a young German schoolboy who was going with
his class and the teacher to visit Chillon; and he asked his father's
consent that he might go with them.
"I can walk there with them," said Rollo, "and wait there till you and
mother come."
"Does the boy speak English?" asked Mr. Holiday.
"No, sir," said Rollo; "but he can speak French a little. He speaks it
just about as well as I can, and we can get along together very well."
"Is the teacher willing that you should go?" asked Mr. Holiday.
"I don't know," said Rollo; "we have not asked him yet."
"Then the first thing is to ask him," said Mr. Holiday. "Let your friend
ask the teacher if he is willing to have another boy invited to go with
his party; and if he is willing, you may go. If you get to Chillon
first, you may go about the castle with the boys, and then wait at the
castle gates till we come."
"How soon shall you come?" asked Rollo.
"Very soon," said Mr. Holiday. "I have ordered the carriage already, and
we shall perhaps get there as soon as you do."
So Rollo went down stairs again to his friend, the German boy.
"Do you think," said Rollo, "that the teacher would be willing to have
me go with you?"
"Yes," said the boy, "I am sure he will. He is always very glad to have
us meet with an opportunity to speak French. Besides, there are some
boys in the school who are learning English, and he would like to have
you talk a little with them."
"Go and ask him," said Rollo.
So the boy went off to ask the teacher. He met him on the stairs, coming
down with the rest of the boys. The teacher was very much pleased with
the plan of having an American boy invited to join the party, and so it
was settled that Rollo was to go.
The boys all went down stairs, and rendezvoused at the door of the inn.
Most of the omnibuses and diligences had gone. The boys of the school
all accosted Rollo in a very cordial manner; and the teacher shook hands
with him, and said that he was very glad to have him join their party.
The teacher spoke to him in French. There were two other boys who tried
to speak to him in English. They succeeded pretty well, but they could
not speak very fluently, and they made several mistakes. But Rollo was
very careful not to laugh at their mistakes, and they did not laugh at
those which he made in talking French; and so they all got along very
well together.
Thus they set out on the road which led along the shore of the lake
towards the Castle of Chillon.