It was to him she was coming in the sweet surrender of the bride . Was he worthy of her ? Could he make her as happy as he hoped ? If he failed her -- if he could not measure up to her standard of manhood -- then , as she held out her hand , their eyes met and all doubt was swept away in a glad certainty . They belonged to each other ; and , no matter what life might hold for them , it could never alter that . Their happiness was in each other 's keeping and both were unafraid . They were married in the sunshine of the old orchard , circled by the loving and kindly faces of long-familiar friends . Mr. Allan married them , and the Reverend Jo made what Mrs. Rachel Lynde afterwards pronounced to be the `` most beautiful wedding prayer '' she had ever heard . Birds do not often sing in September , but one sang sweetly from some hidden bough while Gilbert and Anne repeated their deathless vows . Anne heard it and thrilled to it ; Gilbert heard it , and wondered only that all the birds in the world had not burst into jubilant song ; Paul heard it and later wrote a lyric about it which was one of the most admired in his first volume of verse ; Charlotta the Fourth heard it and was blissfully sure it meant good luck for her adored Miss Shirley . The bird sang until the ceremony was ended and then it wound up with one mad little , glad little trill . Never had the old gray-green house among its enfolding orchards known a blither , merrier afternoon . All the old jests and quips that must have done duty at weddings since Eden were served up , and seemed as new and brilliant and mirth-provoking as if they had never been uttered before . Laughter and joy had their way ; and when Anne and Gilbert left to catch the Carmody train , with Paul as driver , the twins were ready with rice and old shoes , in the throwing of which Charlotta the Fourth and Mr. Harrison bore a valiant part . Marilla stood at the gate and watched the carriage out of sight down the long lane with its banks of goldenrod . Anne turned at its end to wave her last good-bye . She was gone -- Green Gables was her home no more ; Marilla 's face looked very gray and old as she turned to the house which Anne had filled for fourteen years , and even in her absence , with light and life . But Diana and her small fry , the Echo Lodge people and the Allans , had stayed to help the two old ladies over the loneliness of the first evening ; and they contrived to have a quietly pleasant little supper time , sitting long around the table and chatting over all the details of the day . While they were sitting there Anne and Gilbert were alighting from the train at Glen St. Mary . CHAPTER 5 THE HOME COMING Dr. David Blythe had sent his horse and buggy to meet them , and the urchin who had brought it slipped away with a sympathetic grin , leaving them to the delight of driving alone to their new home through the radiant evening .
XXXXX never forgot the loveliness of the view that broke upon them when they had driven over the hill behind the village .
Anne Carmody Charlotta Eden Fourth Gables Marilla Mary afternoon left