Sentence:  He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance....But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again...she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening <WSD>searching</WSD> anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To look thoroughly.