I've often wondered if the half-way point when the local attitude turned against him probably happened because Elizabeth shared her story. The fact that his short-comings were 'discovered', which at that time had the meaning of being 'revealed', kind of points to her revelations as the impetus. I can almost hear her saying, 'above his company and above being pleased'.It was probably part of what formed the local opinion of Darcy, but not the only thing. Darcy refused to be dance with local girls and was only borderline civil to the people he was introduced to. And, you know, Meryton society was perfectly right in their opinion of Darcy up to this point: he was thinking everybody beneath him, he did go to the assemply expecting to have a horrible time, he did display bad manners. It is only when they start to equate bad manners with bad morals that the people of Meryton and Elizabeth begin to wrong
In any case, I have always had mixed feelings about Elizabeth's "spirited" retelling of his comment about her. On the one hand, she had every right to tell anyone she pleased about it and making a joke of it and him was a very human reaction. On the other hand, this is the only behavior of Elizabeth that reminds me of her mother.
