Possible Clues:

• Dwindles
• 'That makes three strikes for O'Toole!'
• Wanes
• Card signal by bridge player mostly comes to nothing
• Seems the saint is not all there as he fades away
• In Rome the saint finishes gradually and is now not at home
• The saint is not at home - he just fades away
• When the boy is not at home he ends not with a bang but a whimper