panel font puzzle

[purslow at sympatico.ca]

i just discovered something odd, which mb a panel bug (4.0.6 , Gentoo).

when i start Xfce after a (re)boot, the panel is shorter with smaller font;
if i exit Xfce without rebooting then restart Xfce,
the panel is slightly larger & the desktop-switcher font distinctly larger:
the difference is perhaps  9 pt  vs  12 pt .
i had noted this before, but believed it was due to Kdeinit starting too soon;
however, it happens even when i suppress the 'kdeinit' line in  xinitrc
(i checked with  pstree  &  kdeinit  was not running on either occasion).

my panel settings are 'tiny, vertical, right, curve, top, bottom, set'.

there's a line in  ~/.xfce4/settings/gtk.xml :

  <option name="Gtk/FontName" type="string" value="Helvetica 9"/>

which mb causing the initial small font,
but then what is resetting it larger when i restart Xfce after exiting it ?

i can submit a bug report or put up screenshots,
but before that does anyone have observations/suggestions ?

BTW i prefer the larger font (smile).

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