Sentence:  But Richmond...appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost <WSD>obscured</WSD> him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To hide, put out of sight etc.