Sentence:  The more modest place became the picture better; yet, as my eyes grew accustomed to the half-light, all the characteristic qualities came out--all the hesitations disguised as audacities, the tricks of <WSD>prestidigitation</WSD> by which, with such consummate skill, he managed to divert attention from the real business of the picture to some pretty irrelevance of detail. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A show of skill or deceitful cleverness.