Crossing the garden, still wet with dew where the shadows lay, they reached the little corridor and made their way to the balcony. Luke cast a swift glance up and down the narrow alleyway. No one was in sight but he was prepared to bet any number of eyes were watching them. Not that it would do them any good. The pod was camouflaged and no one could get in, anyway. Unless they were Time Police, of course. He wrenched away the small wooden gate blocking the way to the steps. Jane winced.

‘If it’s any consolation,’ he said, ‘I don’t think I’m the first person to do that.’

‘I’m worried because now people can get in.’

‘I’ll wedge it when we come back. And the door.’

They slipped down the steps and stepped out into the alleyway. Picking their way around puddles of dubious-looking fluids, they headed for the street at the end and looked around.

So this was Rome. The Eternal City. It wasn’t what Jane had expected at all. There were no gleaming white buildings. No statues to Jupiter or Romulus. No marble. No massive pillars.

‘I think,’ she said, looking about her, ‘that Julius Caesar lives here somewhere.’

‘Well, that settles it,’ declared Luke. ‘He’s a neighbour. It’s our duty to check things out.’

‘You sound just like St Mary’s.’

‘That’s a little unkind, Jane.’

They were standing in a narrow street made even narrower by the tall buildings on either side. Jane guessed the sun rarely shone here. There were paving stones beneath their feet but they were rough and uneven, and in some cases, missing altogether. Slimy rubbish had been trodden into the cracks.

The building opposite them seemed almost to lean over the street. Built of bricks and timber, its decorative cladding had mostly peeled away. There were few windows, even above street level.

At street level, the buildings were open and, squinting into the dark interiors, she could make out what seemed to be a series of small shops, each opening directly on to the street.

There was a wine shop, judging by the number of amphorae being stacked against the wall outside. And she could smell fresh bread, so there must be a bakery somewhere very close. Another shopkeeper seemed to be laying out baskets of olives on a wooden bench. They all shouted to each other. It would seem amphora man was trespassing on olive man’s frontage. This was obviously an old battle though. Amphora man removed the offending stock with a grin and a rude gesture. Olive man responded in kind and they carried on with their day.