How does Carpentier suggest a different way of time passing in the sentence that begins section III: “The candles grew slowly and lost their beads of sweat”?

The line that begins section III corresponds to the overall conceit of time passing in reverse that Alejo Carpentier employs throughout the story. Don Marcial has died, and from the vantage point of his own funeral, he begins to see his life as if lived in reverse sequence.
As a candle burns, it loses height. In this image, instead, the candles are growing taller. Also, in a burning candle, the wax is turned from a solid pillar into drops that roll down the sides, much like beads of sweat rolling down a person’s face or body. Here again, the candles are losing those drops, rather than gaining them.
The author also extends this image, so that when the candles grow to full size, a religious sister extinguishes them rather than lighting them.