diff --git a/bin/init_model.py b/bin/init_model.py
index 2591ada50..fe65cd309 100644
--- a/bin/init_model.py
+++ b/bin/init_model.py
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ def _read_probs(loc):
 
 
 def _read_freqs(loc):
+    if not loc.exists():
+        print("Warning: Frequencies file not found")
+        return None
     counts = PreshCounter()
     total = 0
     for i, line in enumerate(loc.open()):
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 7a5292e96..bf10a1165 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 cython
 cymem == 1.11
 pathlib
-preshed == 0.37
+preshed == 0.41
 thinc == 3.3
 murmurhash == 0.24
 unidecode
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 36f43a296..15c850627 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ def run_setup(exts):
                       "spacy.syntax": ["*.pxd"]},
         ext_modules=exts,
         license="Dual: Commercial or AGPL",
-        install_requires=['numpy', 'murmurhash', 'cymem >= 1.11', 'preshed == 0.37',
+        install_requires=['numpy', 'murmurhash', 'cymem >= 1.11', 'preshed == 0.41',
                           'thinc == 3.3', "unidecode", 'wget', 'plac', 'six',
                           'ujson'],
         setup_requires=["headers_workaround"],
diff --git a/spacy/cfile.pyx b/spacy/cfile.pyx
index 6346302b9..781759466 100644
--- a/spacy/cfile.pyx
+++ b/spacy/cfile.pyx
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ cdef class CFile:
     def __init__(self, loc, mode):
         if isinstance(mode, unicode):
             mode_str = mode.encode('ascii')
+        else:
+            mode_str = mode
         cdef bytes bytes_loc = loc.encode('utf8') if type(loc) == unicode else loc
         self.fp = fopen(<char*>bytes_loc, mode_str)
         if self.fp == NULL: