"RICHMOND, June 8 -- Sexual harassment allegations against House Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr. have made it virtually impossible for him to stay on as Virginia's most powerful lawmaker, according to fellow Republicans who agreed today to schedule an emergency GOP meeting to give him a final chance to explain his conduct toward women.

In an extraordinary series of telephone conference calls Friday and again this afternoon, leaders of the House of Delegates confronted Wilkins about his $100,000 out-of-court settlement with an Amherst County woman who alleged harassment by Wilkins last year. The GOP officials said today that Wilkins's inadequate responses to their questions made it even more likely that he will lose the speakership he worked so many years to achieve.

Wilkins said he will address a special meeting of the 64-member House Republican Caucus on Monday night, but members of his inner circle -- some of whom are urging him to resign his seat -- said they doubted that his last-minute appeal could quiet the growing chorus of resignation demands.

Some senior GOP legislators said Wilkins's position is becoming all the more precarious because of their fears that harassment allegations may surface from women in Richmond's lobbying community and legislative staff with whom the speaker interacted.

"Everyone agrees that there's serious lack of judgment on the speaker's part," said GOP Caucus Chairman Leo C. Wardrup Jr. (Virginia Beach). "There's also the possibility of other allegations which may be forthcoming, which reflect a lack of understanding and sensitivity in his dealings with members of the opposite sex."

The two days of wrenching phone calls between party elders and Wilkins followed a report Friday in The Washington Post about the $100,000 settlement that sources said Wilkins, 65, paid at the end of last year to settle sexual harassment allegations made by Jennifer L. Thompson, 26, a former clerical worker at Wilkins Construction Co. in Amherst County. Wilkins has represented the area for 24 years in the General Assembly.

Wilkins sold the construction company in 1991 but maintained his legislative office in its warehouse complex. Thompson alleged that Wilkins made unwelcome sexual advances on her last summer, groping her and pinning her against office furniture. When Thompson threatened legal action, Wilkins paid her at least $100,000, and the two signed an agreement to keep the matter confidential, according to sources familiar with the settlement.

Wilkins has publicly denied Thompson's allegations of sexual misconduct and did so again today with House colleagues, but he resisted their appeals to explain everything that occurred, saying it was a personal matter, said several delegates who spoke on the condition that their names not be used.

According to two delegates, Wilkins did say at one point that his encounters with Thompson were entirely innocent, and he blamed the issue on a financial feud between him and the construction company's current owners, with whom Thompson shared her complaints about Wilkins.

Wilkins also did not dispute the reported settlement amount, telling colleagues in the conference calls that he made the payment only because his lawyer had advised him to and because elections for all 100 House seats were underway last fall.

The Nov. 6 elections were a breakthrough for the Virginia GOP, which had built narrow legislative majorities through the late 1990s. Wilkins became speaker in 2000 and. added a dozen Republicans to the Republican House majority last year. Two independents organize with the GOP, leaving 34 Democrats in the House.

Wilkins paid Thompson the settlement after the elections, and House leaders said today they were still unsatisfied by his account of the Amherst matter. "He still owes an explanation to the whole caucus about that," said Wardrup,, a Wilkins confidant.

"There is substantial movement to get Vance to understand why perhaps people are upset," Wardrup added. "The man deserves his day in court. He'll have it Monday night."

Wilkins said he was uncertain about the outcome of the meeting.

"You can be confident and not do well, and not confident and do well," Wilkins said. "I don't have a really good handle on it."

Asked if his speakership was in jeopardy, Wilkins replied: "That's a question that will have to be answered Monday night."

Some lawmakers said it was premature to discount the breadth of support for Wilkins in the Republican caucus that he built from the ground up. Many in the largely male group of legislators are personally loyal to him and have sworn political allegiance because of the generous campaign contributions he makes at election time. Supporters of Wilkins complained that caucus leaders were making an unfair rush to judgment.

However, a larger group said that Wilkins, despite his tireless efforts at party-building, is now a potential political liability, especially among female voters and moderates. These legislators said that Wilkins's answers have so far been incomplete and that he has yet to provide a satisfactory reason he paid such a large settlement if no harassment had taken place.

"People are extremely distressed about what's happened," said state Del. Thelma Drake (R-Norfolk). "People want answers-and quicker than what they've gotten. I don't think anybody wants to drag this out."

One member of the House leadership team, which includes about a dozen legislative committee chairmen and floor leaders, said: "It makes everyone uncomfortable that he's not forthcoming. He digs himself deeper with every answer."

More worrisome to House Republicans, several of them said, was the possibility that Wilkins's conduct in the state Capitol community may be questioned by some of the women who work there as support staff, lobbyists, trade association representatives or political activists and volunteers.

"There could be other allegations made -- there's concern about that," said state Del. John A. "Jack" Rollison III (R-Prince William), a trusted Wilkins lieutenant and chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

"We should give him an opportunity to respond to some of the allegations that have been made," Rollison added. "That's just the bare basics of justice and fairness. We should make a decision based on facts, rather than panicking."

Wardrup said Wilkins seemed unaware of the current workplace prohibitions against behavior that in another era may have been tolerated.

"The speaker comes from a different time and different generation -- my generation" said Wardrup, who also is 65. "You may have said 'honey' and 'sweetie pie' back then, and that's one of the things that Vance may have to learn you don't say anymore."

Wardrup added that all elected officials should be held to a high standard, even in their private dealings.

"Our public leaders should be beyond reproach, in terms of their personal dealings," Wardrup said." (R.H. Melton, The Washington Post, June 9, 2002).