diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 75c63ca30b..524cac14e0 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ New Functionality
 Changed Functionality
 ---------------------
 
+- string slices now exclude the end index (e.g., "123"[1:2] returns
+  "2"). Generally, Bro's string slices now behave similar to Python.
+
 - ssl_client_hello() now receives a vector of ciphers, instead of a
   set, to preserve their order.
 
diff --git a/scripts/base/protocols/smtp/main.bro b/scripts/base/protocols/smtp/main.bro
index fb3095c121..d3bd8a97b4 100644
--- a/scripts/base/protocols/smtp/main.bro
+++ b/scripts/base/protocols/smtp/main.bro
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ function describe(rec: Info): string
 			{
 			if ( |rec$subject| > 20 )
 				{
-				abbrev_subject = rec$subject[0:20] + "...";
+				abbrev_subject = rec$subject[0:21] + "...";
 				}
 			}