I'd just check that as soon as you declare list:
Code: 
if (list.Count == 0) return String.Empty;
If the code runs after that you know there are nodes, thus no need for a try-catch. They are resource eaters .
Hyperz Reviewed by Hyperz on . [c#] XML Reader / Writer Here's a handly little class that i use very often to read/write XML files. Its a very handy little tool to save settings or anything else you wish to read/write often. Hope you find it useful Useage: setting mySettings = new settings("myFile.xml"); // To Retrieve Values Rating: 5