Liz stirred a little, and Beardy Ned bent over her.
"Well, I'll tell you," he said. "They goes into the In-between Land—the place as is in between everything you can see. How do I know? Because I've been there. Because James Parkins showed me how."
"That's very interesting," said Cuthbert politely, but Beardy Ned didn't seem to hear.
"The trouble is, you see," Beardy Ned continued, "that candles, when they goes out, can't take people with them. But James Parkins, he'd found a candle that could take a person with it, and this is the candle. When he first gave it me, two year ago, it was about eight inches long. But I've used it a lot, and after you've blowed it out, and it's taken you with it, it goes on burning. When you come back, it's an inch shorter—an inch shorter every time. And this here bit is the last bit as'll ever take anyone to In-between Land."
He gave it to Cuthbert.
"Do you want to go there?" he said. "You've saved my little girl's life, and you've only to say the word."
"But it's the last bit," said Cuthbert.
"Never mind. I know what's there. That's the chief thing."
"Is it quite safe?" asked Cuthbert. "It seems rather queer."
"I'll tell you what it's like," said Beardy Ned. "It's like a dream. Or rather it's not like a dream so much as waking up from a dream. You sees the trees and things, all kind of misty, and the houses in the towns, and the people in the houses. And you sees 'em quarrelling and the like, and grieving, and you wants to tell 'em as it's only a dream. You wants to tell 'em they're just going to wake up. That's what it seems like in In-between Land."