require 'rexle'
s = "<a>ddd<trust colour='red'>abc</trust><ccc>rrr</ccc></a>"
doc = Rexle.new s
r = doc.root.xpath 'trust'
r.first.value
#=> abc
r.first.attributes
#=> {"colour"=>"red"}
s = "<a>ddd<trust>abc</trust><ccc>rrr</ccc></a>"
Rexle.new(s).root.element('trust').value
#=> abc
s = "<a>ddd<trust>abc</trust><ccc><eee>fff</eee></ccc></a>"
Rexle.new(s).root.element('ccc/eee').value
#=> "fff"
Rexle is an XML parser intended for returning elements from an XPath query faster than REXML, and Nokogiri.