diff --git a/src/base/ftobjs.c b/src/base/ftobjs.c
index bed0389ab..156e8786b 100644
--- a/src/base/ftobjs.c
+++ b/src/base/ftobjs.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 /*                                                                         */
 /*    The FreeType private base classes (body).                            */
 /*                                                                         */
-/*  Copyright 1996-2013 by                                                 */
+/*  Copyright 1996-2014 by                                                 */
 /*  David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg.                      */
 /*                                                                         */
 /*  This file is part of the FreeType project, and may only be used,       */
@@ -3360,6 +3360,7 @@
     FT_UInt   gindex = 0;
 
 
+    /* only do something if we have a charmap, and we have glyphs at all */
     if ( face && face->charmap && face->num_glyphs )
     {
       gindex = FT_Get_Char_Index( face, 0 );