diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rdoc b/CHANGELOG.rdoc
index 14f962983db..8147491ed1e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rdoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rdoc
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
   * XML::NodeSet#slice gracefully handles offset+length larger than the set length. GH #200
   * XML::Node#content= safely unlinks previous content. GH #203
   * XML::Node#namespace= takes nil as a parameter
+  * XML::Node#xpath returns things other than NodeSet objects. GH #208
 
 === 1.4.1 / 2009/12/10
 
diff --git a/Manifest.txt b/Manifest.txt
index e90bab2fbfa..543b0232942 100644
--- a/Manifest.txt
+++ b/Manifest.txt
@@ -68,8 +68,6 @@ ext/nokogiri/xml_syntax_error.c
 ext/nokogiri/xml_syntax_error.h
 ext/nokogiri/xml_text.c
 ext/nokogiri/xml_text.h
-ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.c
-ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.h
 ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath_context.c
 ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath_context.h
 ext/nokogiri/xslt_stylesheet.c
diff --git a/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.c b/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.c
index fd7b9e27b84..dadbb50ae05 100644
--- a/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.c
+++ b/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.c
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ void Init_nokogiri()
   init_xml_comment();
   init_xml_node_set();
   init_xml_xpath_context();
-  init_xml_xpath();
   init_xml_sax_parser_context();
   init_xml_sax_parser();
   init_xml_sax_push_parser();
diff --git a/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.h b/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.h
index 7c2b5be761a..b9087be2dc0 100644
--- a/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.h
+++ b/ext/nokogiri/nokogiri.h
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ int is_2_6_16(void) ;
 #include <xml_document_fragment.h>
 #include <xml_comment.h>
 #include <xml_node_set.h>
-#include <xml_xpath.h>
 #include <xml_dtd.h>
 #include <xml_attribute_decl.h>
 #include <xml_element_decl.h>
diff --git a/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.c b/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 1f13abd79f7..00000000000
--- a/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-#include <xml_xpath.h>
-
-static void deallocate(xmlXPathObjectPtr xpath)
-{
-  NOKOGIRI_DEBUG_START(xpath);
-  xmlXPathFreeNodeSetList(xpath); // despite the name, this frees the xpath but not the contained node set
-  NOKOGIRI_DEBUG_END(xpath);
-}
-
-VALUE Nokogiri_wrap_xml_xpath(xmlXPathObjectPtr xpath)
-{
-  return Data_Wrap_Struct(cNokogiriXmlXpath, 0, deallocate, xpath);
-}
-
-/*
- * call-seq:
- *  node_set
- *
- * Fetch the node set associated with this xpath context.
- */
-static VALUE node_set(VALUE self)
-{
-  xmlXPathObjectPtr xpath;
-  Data_Get_Struct(self, xmlXPathObject, xpath);
-
-  VALUE node_set = Qnil;
-
-  if (xpath->nodesetval)
-    node_set = Nokogiri_wrap_xml_node_set(xpath->nodesetval, rb_iv_get(self, "@document"));
-
-  if(NIL_P(node_set))
-    node_set = Nokogiri_wrap_xml_node_set(xmlXPathNodeSetCreate(NULL), rb_iv_get(self, "@document"));
-
-  return node_set;
-}
-
-VALUE cNokogiriXmlXpath;
-void init_xml_xpath(void)
-{
-  VALUE module = rb_define_module("Nokogiri");
-  VALUE xml = rb_define_module_under(module, "XML");
-
-  /*
-   * This class wraps an XPath object and should only be instantiated from
-   * XPathContext.
-   */
-  VALUE klass = rb_define_class_under(xml, "XPath", rb_cObject);
-
-  cNokogiriXmlXpath = klass;
-  rb_define_method(klass, "node_set", node_set, 0);
-}
diff --git a/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.h b/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 3ddd947ce04..00000000000
--- a/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-#ifndef NOKOGIRI_XML_XPATH
-#define NOKOGIRI_XML_XPATH
-
-#include <nokogiri.h>
-
-void init_xml_xpath();
-VALUE Nokogiri_wrap_xml_xpath(xmlXPathObjectPtr xpath);
-
-extern VALUE cNokogiriXmlXpath;
-#endif
-
diff --git a/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath_context.c b/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath_context.c
index b5998fd641e..9aeb764d078 100644
--- a/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath_context.c
+++ b/ext/nokogiri/xml_xpath_context.c
@@ -187,13 +187,31 @@ static VALUE evaluate(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
     rb_exc_raise(Nokogiri_wrap_xml_syntax_error(klass, error));
   }
 
-  VALUE xpath_object = Nokogiri_wrap_xml_xpath(xpath);
+  VALUE thing = Qnil;
 
   assert(ctx->doc);
   assert(DOC_RUBY_OBJECT_TEST(ctx->doc));
 
-  rb_iv_set(xpath_object, "@document", DOC_RUBY_OBJECT(ctx->doc));
-  return xpath_object;
+  switch(xpath->type) {
+    case XPATH_STRING:
+      thing = NOKOGIRI_STR_NEW2(xpath->stringval);
+      break;
+    case XPATH_NODESET:
+      thing = Nokogiri_wrap_xml_node_set(xpath->nodesetval,
+        DOC_RUBY_OBJECT(ctx->doc));
+      break;
+    case XPATH_NUMBER:
+      thing = rb_float_new(xpath->floatval);
+      break;
+    case XPATH_BOOLEAN:
+      thing = xpath->boolval == 1 ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
+      break;
+    default:
+      thing = Nokogiri_wrap_xml_node_set(xmlXPathNodeSetCreate(NULL),
+        DOC_RUBY_OBJECT(ctx->doc));
+  }
+
+  return thing;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb b/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb
index 9fffb0c99fe..8ab13c40a0d 100644
--- a/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb
+++ b/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ def xpath *paths
         sets = paths.map { |path|
           ctx = XPathContext.new(self)
           ctx.register_namespaces(ns)
-          ctx.evaluate(path, handler).node_set
+          ctx.evaluate(path, handler)
         }
         return sets.first if sets.length == 1
 
diff --git a/test/xml/test_document.rb b/test/xml/test_document.rb
index b05213b882c..857be5cb74b 100644
--- a/test/xml/test_document.rb
+++ b/test/xml/test_document.rb
@@ -467,21 +467,21 @@ def test_find_with_namespace
 
         ctx = Nokogiri::XML::XPathContext.new(doc)
         ctx.register_ns 'tenderlove', 'http://tenderlovemaking.com/'
-        set = ctx.evaluate('//tenderlove:foo').node_set
+        set = ctx.evaluate('//tenderlove:foo')
         assert_equal 1, set.length
         assert_equal 'foo', set.first.name
 
         # It looks like only the URI is important:
         ctx = Nokogiri::XML::XPathContext.new(doc)
         ctx.register_ns 'america', 'http://tenderlovemaking.com/'
-        set = ctx.evaluate('//america:foo').node_set
+        set = ctx.evaluate('//america:foo')
         assert_equal 1, set.length
         assert_equal 'foo', set.first.name
 
         # Its so important that a missing slash will cause it to return nothing
         ctx = Nokogiri::XML::XPathContext.new(doc)
         ctx.register_ns 'america', 'http://tenderlovemaking.com'
-        set = ctx.evaluate('//america:foo').node_set
+        set = ctx.evaluate('//america:foo')
         assert_equal 0, set.length
       end
 
diff --git a/test/xml/test_xpath.rb b/test/xml/test_xpath.rb
index a583e5bc4ab..4f63478e142 100644
--- a/test/xml/test_xpath.rb
+++ b/test/xml/test_xpath.rb
@@ -34,6 +34,18 @@ def saves_node_set node_set
         }.new
       end
 
+      def test_boolean
+        assert_equal false, @xml.xpath('1 = 2')
+      end
+
+      def test_number
+        assert_equal 2, @xml.xpath('1 + 1')
+      end
+
+      def test_string
+        assert_equal 'foo', @xml.xpath('concat("fo", "o")')
+      end
+
       def test_css_search_uses_custom_selectors_with_arguments
         set = @xml.css('employee > address:my_filter("domestic", "Yes")', @handler)
         assert set.length > 0