Premise: She did not care for him , and anyhow he , Jed , had a little too much pride to ask her , a rich woman , to marry him , a poor man who had lost all caste he ever possessed by taking up tin-peddling .<br>Jed was determined not to `` persoom . ''<br>And , oh , how deliciously romantic it all was !
Hypothesis: Jed was poor because he had a nicotine addiction.