The men of this era were bound by elaborate superstitions, such as squeezing the severed limb of a rabbit to assure promotion in business. In this image they would dress in the hues of a chair to blend in and fool the evil eye of fate.

The Conspirators, a name art historians have assigned to this work, shows two women who are basking in the successful completion of some scheme, which as gone undetected. Possibly they have slipped something into the drinks; possibly they have arranged the cards to produce the illusion that the spirit world would now smile on a new item of adornment.

It is possible there is another meaning entirely - these fate-reading altars at which the men sit were mass-produced, and so we have other records of how they were used. People complained bitterly about pinching their fingers when dismantling the altars for storage; sometimes blood was shed, a reminder of the ancient rituals paid to dark gods.

Additional research has studied the cards, and concluded that the man really did not want to put that diamond down there; if his wife had been sitting across the altar, she would have kicked him in the shin.