Annie found herself at this time in an ever-shifting mood--one moment she longed intensely for a kiss, and a fervent pardon from Mrs. Willis' lips; another, she said to herself defiantly she could and would live without it; one moment the hungry and sorrowful look in Hester's eyes went straight to Annie's heart, and she wished she might restore her little treasure whom she had stolen; the next she rejoiced in her strange power over Nan, and resolved to keep all the love she could get.