Gov. Eliot Spitzer was holed up in his Manhattan apartment for a third day Wednesday as lawmakers and state residents waited in suspense for word about whether he would resign because of a prostitution scandal.

Insiders said the first-term Democrat was trying to decide how to proceed. Republicans began talking impeachment unless he left office, and few if any fellow Democrats were coming forward to defend him.

The scandal erupted Monday when allegations surfaced that Spitzer, a 48-year-old married man with three teenage daughters, spent thousands of dollars on a call girl named Kristen at a swanky Washington hotel on the night before Valentine's Day.

Privately, several Democrats in both the Legislature and in the administration said resignation appeared inevitable. "He's weighing the rest of his life," one Democratic official said sadly.