I did an examination of files that had been changed in the last day or so, hoping to find the culprit.
I had inadvertently, when working another issue, changed the appearance style of my desktop.
To solve my issue:
Open the **Xfce Settings Editor**
Select the **xsettings** channel
In the **Property** window, go to the **Net** section
Scrutinize the **ThemeName** property
Mine was set to **Raleigh**
I changed same to **Xfce**
End of problem...
**Addendum:** Apparently, since my system did not have a theme available that was named **Xfce** , the desktop settings reverted to a default style, which is what I originally was rocking before mucking things up.
Any improvements to this "solution" are welcomed... .
_**UPDATE: Xfce 4.12; Gtk 2.24.31**_
Experienced a similar problem, "solution" was the same as above...