How Long Are The Candles?

This is from the 12/16/2007 "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade magazine:

I have two candles, one an inch longer than the other. I light the longer one at 3 pm and the shorter one at 5 pm.

At 9 pm, they're the same length.

The longer candle goes out at 11 pm, and the shorter one goes out at 10:30 pm.

How long were they at the start?

Please click here for the answer.