though tarquinius kept having the feeling that he had ended up somewhere else , a place that only looked like rome but that he did n't quite recognise , peopled by hinthials that looked like the people he knew , but were n't ; he had a dream one night that he 'd caught a struggling tanaquil in his arms , and tore off the haughty mask she was wearing , but under that mask her face was just another mask , and beneath that another , so that he wondered if she had a real face at all , or was hollow all the way through till there was nothing left but air and whispers .