diff --git a/response.go b/response.go
index 028cdcb..e3bc075 100644
--- a/response.go
+++ b/response.go
@@ -118,6 +118,9 @@ func ParseSlurpOutputErrResponse(response string, stdout, stderr io.Writer) (boo
 	)
 
 	doc, err := xmltree.ParseXML(strings.NewReader(response))
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, 0, err
+	}
 
 	stdouts, _ := xPath(doc, "//rsp:Stream[@Name='stdout']")
 	for _, node := range stdouts {