realize how loathesome war is. At the same time he knows he has got to
go through with it, and only longs for the chance to hurry up. In the
'Diary,' again, I quite deliberately emphasized the depression of the
man who thought he was being left out, and the mental effect of the
clearing-up process because I thought that it would be a good thing
for people to realize this side, and also partly because I felt that
in previous articles I had glossed over it too much.... If I get a
chance of publishing another book I shall certainly include them."

_Note_.--Not only "A Diary" and "Imaginary Conversations," but
every paper in the present collection, with the exception of
"The Wisdom," "The Potentate," and "A Passing in June," were
written in France in 1916, and many of them actually in the
trenches. The rough sketch for "A Passing in June" was written
in France in 1915, but was completed when the author was in
hospital at home.

"The Potentate" was written for the original volume of _A
Student in Arms_, but was not published on account of its
likeness in subject to Barrie's play, _Der Tag_, which,
however, Donald had not seen or even heard of when he wrote
his own.




I

THE POTENTATE[1]