diff --git a/subst.c b/subst.c
index 673376b..09fc915 100644
--- a/subst.c
+++ b/subst.c
@@ -2019,8 +2019,10 @@ split_at_delims (string, slen, delims, sentinel, flags, nwp, cwp)
      long as those characters are delimiters. */
   for (i = 0; member (string[i], d) && spctabnl (string[i]); i++)
     ;
-  if (string[i] == '\0')
+  if (string[i] == '\0') {
+    FREE (d2);
     return (ret);
+  }
 
   ts = i;
   nw = 0;