He was just drunk enough to be quite a fool, yet sufficiently sober to imagine himself the most proper person in the world.

"I don't mean you any harm, Mademoiselle; I'll just see you safe home, you know; 'scort you to your residence; come on, now--that's a good girl." Father Beret hurried to the spot, and when in the deepening gloom he saw Adrienne flinging herself violently this way and that, helplessly trying to escape from the clasp of a man, he did to perfection what a priest is supposed to be the least fitted to do.

Indeed, considering his age and leaving his vocation out of the reckoning, his performance was amazing.

It is not certain that the blow dealt upon Governor Hamilton's jaw by M.Roussillon was a stiffer one than that sent straight from the priest's shoulder right into the short ribs of Captain Farnsworth, who there-upon released a mighty grunt and doubled himself up.
Adrienne recognized her assailant at the first and used his name freely during the struggle.

When Father Beret appeared she cried out to him-- "Oh, Father--Father Beret! help me! help me!" When Farnsworth recovered from the breath-expelling shock of the jab in his side and got himself once more in a vertical position, both girl and priest were gone.