Since this is a short story, the cast of characters is minimal, but each plays a significant part, either in providing information or in the action of the story itself. There are only two major characters: Abercrombie Smith and Edward Bellingham. The former is the perfect type of the public school ideal, a kind of character memorably portrayed in the novel Tom Brown's School Days. And he is established by Doyle as such at the beginning of the story by direct description and by his interaction and conversation with other characters. Smith is a newcomer to Old College, a freshman, even though he attended medical school for four years in Scotland and later in Berlin. He is athletic (participating in and knowledgeable about boxing, running, cricket, and rowing) tolerant, and intellectually solid. He is, clearly, no intellectual, but he manages to do well: With his firm mouth, broad...