He dies, and is swallowed up by the earth and gives no more trouble.

These were the answers Marzio was accustomed to give to the question, "Where do people go to when they die ?" Hitherto they had satisfied him, as they appear to satisfy a very small minority of idiots.
But what would became of Paolo when Marzio had killed him?
Well, in time his body would become earth, that was all.

There was something else, however.

Marzio was conscious to certainty that Paolo would in some way or other be at his elbow ever afterwards, just as he seemed to feel his presence this afternoon in the workshop.

What sort of presence would it be?
Marzio could not tell, but he knew he should feel it.