diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 63b8ff628048e36faed1241e4b1e8944c0e48ba0..9d1e7f61092c4c047b59e44cf78cf7fe24b7ebd5 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ CVS code -
 	  fixes a potential display problem when a search moves the
 	  cursor offscreen and onto a different page. (DLR, found by
 	  Mike Frysinger)
+  display_string()
+	- Fix minor memory leak. (DLR)
 - doc/nano.1:
 	- Better display the default values for quotestr. (DLR)
 - doc/nanorc.5:
diff --git a/src/nano.h b/src/nano.h
index 12105dd29ee94826f9d11d2e79c95c49a3e725f3..2102f3e0843b207b0c0a06e2819c539baeb959b1 100644
--- a/src/nano.h
+++ b/src/nano.h
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ typedef struct rcoption {
  * counting the blank lines at their ends. */
 #define MAX_SEARCH_HISTORY 100
 
-/* The maximum number of bytes we read from a file at one time. */
+/* The maximum number of bytes we read into a buffer at one time. */
 #define MAX_BUF_SIZE 128
 
 #endif /* !NANO_H */
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index 08faf5b6c03c452073b3d7b8c1cbe1ff3307e52f..4a3c8a0abeb6a2c0345f750c22b57a4e57a6401d 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -1791,8 +1791,7 @@ char *display_string(const char *buf, size_t start_col, size_t len, bool
 	/* The string we return. */
     size_t index;
 	/* Current position in converted. */
-
-    char *buf_mb = charalloc(mb_cur_max());
+    char *buf_mb;
     int buf_mb_len;
 
     /* If dollars is TRUE, make room for the "$" at the end of the
@@ -1803,6 +1802,8 @@ char *display_string(const char *buf, size_t start_col, size_t len, bool
     if (len == 0)
 	return mallocstrcpy(NULL, "");
 
+    buf_mb = charalloc(mb_cur_max());
+
     start_index = actual_x(buf, start_col);
     column = strnlenpt(buf, start_index);