1. I forgot to mention the title of the last chapter being Severities and this one is called Gaieties (like a certain chapter in another volume of this book. Y'all know the one. I don't know what this means but I hope it's a parallel that he meant to make). Both talking about the boarding school of the convent. The first mentions the girls following the severe routine of the nuns, the second talks about the joy the children bring to the place.

2. I am very annoyed abt Victor Hugo's writing quirks for some reason so that distracted me from an otherwise very moving chapter. It reminds me of Hugo as a grandfather, how much love he held for his grandchildren. It also reminded me about Leopoldine, and how much they say losing his daughter (she was pregnant when she drowned as I just found out, awful) changed him. Clearly here we see Victor Hugo almost lose the separation of narrator and author (he doesn't seem to usually care for that anyway lol) and talk about children's intelligence like he really loves and appreciates it.