He may be building something. I've heard that more than a few construction materials that are couriered down the river have gone missing in the past few months, though it's all been attributed to carelessness.

[ Could it be that the Phantom is building some sort of weird mech?? Mecha-Christine?????

Anything is possible in Steampunk France, though. If he can't have the real thing, then who's to say that he's not trying to build a replica? Imbue it with her heart, her song?

Of course, Claude won't jump to conclusions. He takes a sip of his coffee. ]

Does this sort of thing excite you?

[ ok that's perhaps poor phrasing, but you know what he means ]