Console app reading INI

I have a console app reading 2 parameters from an INI file:

   Ini := TIniFile.Create('DateDir.INI');
   Try
      DirStub := Ini.ReadString('DateDir','BaseDir','D:\');
      DateOffset := Ini.ReadInteger('DateDir','DateOffset',1);
   finally
      Ini.free;
   end;

The INI file contains:

[DateDir]
BaseDir=c:\temp
DateOffset=1

The DateOffset is reading correctly and doing as expected.  The DirStub (the
ReadString) however fails and returns the default D:\ in all cases.

I have changed the order of the read, the order in the INI file, tried using
other tags (just in case) but can not seem to get the bug fixed.

Using Delphi7 enterprise, Windows XP Pro.

Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks.