diff --git a/src/stream.cpp b/src/stream.cpp
index 1959afa30..8c53dd33a 100644
--- a/src/stream.cpp
+++ b/src/stream.cpp
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ void Stream::StreamInUtf16() const {
         // Deal with the next UTF-16 unit
         if (chLow < 0xD800 || chLow >= 0xE000) {
           // Easiest case: queue the codepoint and return
-          QueueUnicodeCodepoint(m_readahead, ch);
+          QueueUnicodeCodepoint(m_readahead, chLow);
           return;
         }
         // Start the loop over with the new high surrogate
diff --git a/test/integration/encoding_test.cpp b/test/integration/encoding_test.cpp
index 9bd658637..525bebb36 100644
--- a/test/integration/encoding_test.cpp
+++ b/test/integration/encoding_test.cpp
@@ -178,5 +178,32 @@ TEST_F(EncodingTest, UTF32BE_BOM) {
   SetUpEncoding(&EncodeToUtf32BE, true);
   Run();
 }
+
+// An orphaned UTF-16 high surrogate must decode to a single U+FFFD
+// (REPLACEMENT CHARACTER), and the code unit after it must still be decoded.
+// Previously the high surrogate was re-emitted as an ill-formed UTF-8 sequence
+// and the following character was dropped.
+TEST(Utf16SurrogateTest, OrphanHighSurrogateKeepsFollowingChar) {
+  auto put = [](std::string& s, int unit) {
+    s += Byte(unit & 0xFF);
+    s += Byte((unit >> 8) & 0xFF);
+  };
+
+  std::string input;
+  put(input, 0xFEFF);  // UTF-16LE BOM
+  put(input, 'x');
+  put(input, ':');
+  put(input, ' ');
+  put(input, 0xD800);  // high surrogate with no trailing low surrogate
+  put(input, 'A');
+
+  std::stringstream stream(input);
+  Node node = Load(stream);
+  // "\xEF\xBF\xBD" is U+FFFD encoded as UTF-8; it stands in for the orphaned
+  // 0xD800. Before the fix the scalar was "\xEF\xBF\xBD\xED\xA0\x80": the
+  // replacement followed by 0xD800 itself encoded as (invalid) UTF-8, and 'A'
+  // was lost.
+  EXPECT_EQ(node["x"].as<std::string>(), "\xEF\xBF\xBD" "A");
+}
 }
 }