They must be in the room, and the room was so nearly empty that it would take but a moment to penetrate every hiding-place.

But alas! the matter was not so simple as she thought.

She looked here, she looked there; in the bed, in the washstand drawer, under the cushions of the only chair, even in the grate and up the chimney; but she found nothing--nothing! She was standing stark and open-mouthed in the middle of the floor, when the others entered, but recovered herself at sight of their surprise, and, explaining what had happened, set them all to search, sister, nephew, even the nurse, though she was careful to keep close by the latter with a watchfulness that let no movement escape her.
But it was all fruitless.

The bonds were not to be found, either in that room or in any place near.

They ransacked, they rummaged; they went upstairs, they went down; they searched every likely and every unlikely place of concealment, but without avail.