John,

This is directly from the VFP help:

"Properties and methods in a class definition are Public by default: code in
other classes or procedures can set the properties or call the methods.
Properties and methods that you designate as Protected can be accessed only by
other methods in the class definition or in subclasses of the class. Properties
and methods designated as Hidden can be accessed only by other members in the
class definition. Subclasses of the class cannot "see" or reference hidden
members."

HTH
Neil