The long anticipated home-coming was a very sad one.  During the hot summer months Mr. Ahok had grown steadily weaker, and he died almost three months before his wife reached Foochow.  It was a great comfort to those who had been instrumental in arranging for Mrs. Ahok’s trip to England to remember how fully her husband had approved of the plan.  Miss Bradshaw said:  “I shall never forget the bright way in which Mr. Ahok faced all the dangers and difficulties of the journey on which he was sending Mrs. Ahok.  As he said good-bye at the anchorage, he said he did it gladly, for the sake of getting more workers for China.”  Not even when sick and suffering did he regret having let his wife go, although he missed her greatly.  He wrote Miss Bradshaw, during his illness, “I realize how great God’s grace is, in allowing Mrs. Ahok to visit England, and I am so thankful to all the Christian friends who have helped her and been kind to her.”

Mrs. Ahok’s brother, her nephew, and Dr. Sites, who had long been a friend of hers and of Mr. Ahok’s, met her with a houseboat at the steamer anchorage; and during the twelve-mile ride up the river, the sad news was told.  The shock almost stunned Mrs. Ahok at first, but with realization came heart-rending grief.  Miss Mead, the young missionary who had come from England with her, wrote soon after their arrival:  “Yesterday afternoon I went with three of the ladies to see her.  The expression on her face was altered and according to Chinese custom she was very shabbily dressed.  Her jewels were taken off.  She keeps saying, ’If I could only see him once more and tell him all I have done in England!’”

Added to her grief for her husband, Mrs. Ahok had to bear the taunts and reproaches of her non-Christian relatives, who told her that all this trouble had come as a just punishment of the gods, because she had forsaken the religion of her ancestors, and violated the customs of her country in leaving it for so many months to visit a foreign land.  Not only this, but taking advantage of her refusal to perform certain rites of non-Christian worship which are a part of the legal ceremony connected with the inheritance of property, they seized Mr. Ahok’s estate, and the dainty little woman who had always been accustomed to every comfort, and even luxury, was left with little but the house in which she lived.  Moreover a fresh sorrow followed close upon the first one, as her mother lived only a short time after her return.

But in spite of these heavy burdens, the rare courage which had so often been evidenced before, soon began to reassert itself.  Miss Mead was soon able to write:  “Mrs. Ahok spoke a little at the Bible-women’s meeting on Tuesday, and for the first time came here afterward and had a cup of tea, and saw my room.  She is brighter, and I am glad to tell you that she was able to say that the peace of God was still hers.  Jimmy Ahok (her little son) was present at Miss Davis’ wedding.”  Nor was Mrs. Ahok too absorbed in her grief to remember her friend in her happiness, for little Jimmy carried with him a beautiful bunch of flowers for the bride.