diff --git a/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb b/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb
index 275372ee..02759e70 100644
--- a/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb
+++ b/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb
@@ -511,7 +511,11 @@ def normalize( input, entities=nil, entity_filter=nil )
 
       # Unescapes all possible entities
       def unnormalize( string, entities=nil, filter=nil )
-        rv = string.gsub( Private::CARRIAGE_RETURN_NEWLINE_PATTERN, "\n" )
+        if string.include?("\r")
+          rv = string.gsub( Private::CARRIAGE_RETURN_NEWLINE_PATTERN, "\n" )
+        else
+          rv = string.dup
+        end
         matches = rv.scan( REFERENCE_RE )
         return rv if matches.size == 0
         rv.gsub!( Private::CHARACTER_REFERENCES ) {
diff --git a/test/test_pullparser.rb b/test/test_pullparser.rb
index b6a48c93..652a613c 100644
--- a/test/test_pullparser.rb
+++ b/test/test_pullparser.rb
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def test_entity_replacement
     end
 
     def test_character_references
-      source = '<a>&#65;</a><b>&#x42;</b>'
+      source = "<a>&#65;</a>\r\n<b>&#x42;</b>"
       parser = REXML::Parsers::PullParser.new( source )
       element_name = ''
       while parser.has_next?
@@ -71,12 +71,16 @@ def test_character_references
         case event.event_type
         when :start_element
           element_name = event[0]
+        when :end_element
+          element_name = nil
         when :text
           case element_name
           when 'a'
             assert_equal('A', event[1])
           when 'b'
             assert_equal('B', event[1])
+          else
+            assert_equal("\n", event[1])
           end
         end
       end