diff --git a/include/wx/msw/textctrl.h b/include/wx/msw/textctrl.h
index e0928b1174..58d298125d 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/textctrl.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/textctrl.h
@@ -103,9 +103,7 @@ public:
     virtual bool PositionToXY(long pos, long *x, long *y) const;
 
     virtual void ShowPosition(long pos);
-    virtual wxTextCtrlHitTestResult HitTest(const wxPoint& pt,
-                                            wxTextCoord *col,
-                                            wxTextCoord *row) const;
+    virtual wxTextCtrlHitTestResult HitTest(const wxPoint& pt, long *pos) const;
 
     // Clipboard operations
     virtual void Copy();
diff --git a/src/msw/textctrl.cpp b/src/msw/textctrl.cpp
index b0d7135cc0..e742baa4b0 100644
--- a/src/msw/textctrl.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/textctrl.cpp
@@ -1361,7 +1361,7 @@ bool wxTextCtrl::PositionToXY(long pos, long *x, long *y) const
 }
 
 wxTextCtrlHitTestResult
-wxTextCtrl::HitTest(const wxPoint& pt, wxTextCoord *col, wxTextCoord *row) const
+wxTextCtrl::HitTest(const wxPoint& pt, long *posOut) const
 {
     // first get the position from Windows
     LPARAM lParam;
@@ -1440,11 +1440,8 @@ wxTextCtrl::HitTest(const wxPoint& pt, wxTextCoord *col, wxTextCoord *row) const
     else
         rc = wxTE_HT_ON_TEXT;
 
-    // finally translate to column/row
-    if ( !PositionToXY(pos, col, row) )
-    {
-        wxFAIL_MSG( _T("PositionToXY() not expected to fail in HitTest()") );
-    }
+    if ( posOut )
+        *posOut = pos;
 
     return rc;
 }