"Why, I suppose he can have company if he wishes," said Rollo. "Yes," said Mr. George. "Perhaps he lives in Edinburgh, or in London, in the winter, and in the summer he has company here. But then when he has company at all he must have them all the time, and he must have all the care and responsibility of entertaining them; and that, I should think, would be a great burden." Mr. George and the boys rambled over these grounds about half an hour, and then they returned to the hotel. They were obliged to walk fast the last part of the way, for dark, driving clouds began to be seen in the sky, and just before they reached the hotel some drops of fine rain began to fall. "To-morrow is going to be a rainy day, I expect," said Rollo. "Very likely," said Mr. George. "And shall you go on over the lake if it is?" asked Rollo. "I think we shall go as far as to the foot of Ben Lomond," said Mr. George. CHAPTER VIII. ROWERDENNAN INN. Ben Lomond is one of the highest peaks in Scotland. There are one or two that are higher, but they are more remote, and consequently less known. Ben Lomond is the one most visited, and is, accordingly, the one that is most renowned. It lies on the east side of Loch Lomond, about half way between the head of the lake and the outlet. Our party were now at the outlet of the lake, and were going the next morning towards the head of it. The outlet of the lake is towards the south. In this southern part, as I believe I have already said, the lake is about ten miles wide, and its banks are formed of hills and valleys of fertile land, every where well cultivated, and presenting charming scenes of verdure and fruitfulness. The lake, too, in this portion of it, is studded with a great number of very picturesque and pretty islands. As you go north, however, the lake, or loch, as the Scotch call it, contracts in breadth, and the land rises higher and higher, until at length you see before you a narrow sheet of water, shut in on either hand with dark and gloomy mountains, the sides of which are covered every where with ferns and heather, and seem entirely uninhabited. They descend, moreover, so steep to the water that there seems to be not even room for a path between the foot of the mountains and the shore.