Sharp-Edged

He took up position beneath the town of Beauvais.
At least, that was the name chiselled below the statue. Without its help a little more work would have been required to distinguish Beauvais from Lille, Amiens, or any of the other towns that stood guard on the façade of the Gare du Nord, each represented by a stern-faced matron wrapped in a cloak with a shield propped at her feet. The giveaway was that Beauvais was the only one holding an axe – a substantial one at that, which would have made short shrift of any martyr’s neck.