Answer:
Mattie did not immediately leave with Ethan because she hadn't known Ethan was there to pick her up. Moreover, Ethan had hidden in the shadows, and thus, impossible for Mattie to have seen him.
Explanation:
Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome," tells the story of the main character Ethan Frome and his struggles in his married life with his wife Zeena while at the same time falling for her cousin Mattie who had come to stay with them. The novel takes us through the "smash-up" that has been the 'hanging' cloud over Frome's life.
On the winter night when Ethan had gone to the village church to pick up his wife's cousin Mattie Silver, Ethan observed "the dark head under the cherry-coloured scarf" and silently hid in the shadows. After the dance was over and the people came out to go back home, Mattie did not immediately leave with Ethan. This was because Ethan had hidden in the corners and not visible to the people around him.
