Here in this chapter Hugo continues the long digression into the life at the convent / boarding school at Petit-Picpus. The emphasis here seems to be primarily around the strict enforcement of silence and isolation that the children experienced at the hands of the sisters (who kept that same silence and isolation themselves). Several anecdotes are shared, one worth mentioning is the fact that the girls at the school spoke considered it a legendary event when they once heard a flute being played outside the convent. Some girls even risked their lives by climbing onto the roof in an attempt to glimpse what they imagined was a young man playing the flute. What they saw instead was an old man.
While that anecdote goes a long way to point out the type of isolation that the girls experienced there, it is another one that drives home how serious and strict the enforcement of silence was. Quoting Hugo directly here:
Any child who broke silence was required to ‘make a cross’ with her tongue. And where did she do this? On the floor, by licking the stone flags. Dust, the end of all rejoicing, was the chastisement inflicted on the small pink tongue that had dared to wag.
What the fuck. Like, what the actual fuck. A child decides to speak and you make them LICK THE DIRTY GROUND while pointing out that the dust filling their mouths is the ultimate end of everything. Call CPS. Get those kids out of there.