The man's gloves were illusive: a mirror made two empty sleeves appear to end in white hands. (illusive: illusory, deceptive, misleading) A gullible tourist offered cash. (gullible: credulous, naive, unsuspecting) An incredulous local accused the performer of selling thin air. (incredulous: disbelieving, skeptical, unconvinced) A heckler called him a humbug, and a guileless child asked what held up the second mirror. (humbug: fraud, impostor, charlatan; guileless: artless, innocent, ingenuous) Only the child had identified the trick.
To dupe someone into buying an empty packet would be deceit. (dupe: deceive, hoodwink, delude; deceit: deception, duplicity, dishonesty) A stage illusion was a consensual deception. (deception: deceit, trickery, duplicity) The performer showed the glass and returned the tourist's money. Much of his craft depended on the willing attention of people who knew perfectly well a sleeve did not end in glass. An audience could be both attentive and aware of his subterfuge. (attentive: observant, heedful, alert; subterfuge: ruse, trick, stratagem)
The child volunteered to help. Her hand appeared in the mirror instead of the glove and waved at her astonished father. Nobody wanted to buy the gloves after that. Everyone wanted a second look at the girl who could put her hand through a sleeve from six feet away.