.htaccess problems

Can anyone help me with protected directories? I have Linue 9 and in my web home directory I have created a folder called protected. For test purposes I have added to this directory the files .htaccess and .htpasswd

The .htaccess contains the instructions shown below and the .htpasswd contains the username and encrypted password.

When I access the directory it lists the test file <readme.txt>. When I change the permission on the directory, when I enter the url for the test file it is displayed. The files were saved as text only. For some reason the directoyr protection doesn't appear to be working - doesn't anyone have any ideas, please.

cheers
Graham. UK

.htaccess
AuthUserFile /var/www/html/protected/.htpasswd
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Protected Area"
require valid-user