The clock itself doesn’t appear until the very last line: “She hears the caustic ticking of the clock” (Line 14). However, it is an essential part of the Cinderella story and is already implied in the title, as well as hinted at in the circular nature of some of the imagery: “the rondo slows; now reels” (Line 3). Here, the clock symbolizes the inevitability of time, the consistent progression that marches through this seemingly timeless moment. It’s also an irrefutable reminder of the “real world” outside the ballroom, in whatever shape and form this might take for the central characters.