He was admitting to himself that he had very little, if anything, to show for hours of time that he had spent in dancing, at card games, beach picnics, and races.

All these things had been amusing.
But he had nothing to show for the time he had spent or the money he had wasted.

Nothing had happened that in any way equipped him for his battle with Oka Sayye.

Conversely, this girl, whom he had resented, whom he had criticized, who had claimed his notice only by her radical difference from the other girls, had managed, during the few minutes he had first talked with her in the hall, to wound his pride, to spur his ambition, to start him on a course that must end in lasting and material benefit to him even if he failed in making a higher record of scholarship than Oka Sayye.

It was very certain that the exercise he was giving his brain must be beneficial.