What is the meaning of "deprecating" as it is
used in paragraph 13?

The adventures of tom sawyer, chapter 1 (excert)what does tom do to prevent aunt polly from finding out that he ate her jam? a) tom hides under the bed and then in the closet b) tom hide under the bed and tries to blame the cat c) tom hides in the closet so that aunt polly would not see him d) tom tried to wash the jam off and lied to aunt polly about the cat