Sentence:  Inside , as soon as Mr. Skopas had disclosed - in a hoarse whisper - the detective 's errand , his family gathered in a huddle , forming a mass of dark flesh on and around a brocaded sofa which stood at one <WSD>side</WSD> of a baroque fireplace . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location