See sample code below. Tested against JDK-1.2beta3-B

import java.awt.font.StyledString;
import java.awt.Font;

public class GetCharsTest {

  public static void main (String args[]) {

try {
String string2 = "123456";

Font font2 = new Font("Helvetica",Font.BOLD,12);

   StyledString s = new StyledString(string2,font2);

System.out.println("character " + s.charAt(0) );
System.out.println("string " + s.toString() );
StyledString aStyledString = s.substring(1,2);
} catch (Throwable exception) {
                System.out.println("Exception" + exception);
}
        System.out.println("Done ssf");
System.exit(0);
  }

}