Chapter 17 takes place in the "funeral" of Tom, Joe and Huckleberry Finn. Becky regrets how she had been acting with Tom before he had "died." The next day, everyboy goes to church. In church, the three boys appeared and their families are really surprised. Tom is sad because no one is saying nothing to Huck. The last line of the chapter goes like this
"Tom got more cuffs and kisses that day -- according to Aunt Polly's varying moods -- than he had earned before in a year; and he hardly knew which expressed the most gratefulness to God and affection for himself." What this means is that Tom got more kisses and cuffs from Aunt Polly than he had got in a year and he didn't knew if the suffs or the kisses expressed most gratefulness to God and affection to himself.