[xsl] Can not convert number to a NodeList

["Carlos M. S. Bento Nogueira" <cmsbn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to put this simple cycle to work :

<xsl:for-each select="$line">
	<xsl:for-each select="$column">
		<td><xsl:text>C</xsl:text></td>
	</xsl:for-each>

	<xsl:if test="$line&gt;1">
		<tr><xsl:text>L</xsl:text></tr>
	</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>

but i'm always getting an exception: Can not convert number to a NodeList 
.
Yes this variables are numbers that must be passed to my xsl file.
I'm initializing them this way
<xsl:variable name="column" select="number(fi:styling/@column")/>
.

Any ideas how to workaround this? I've tried exslt.org but haven't found
what i needed.

TIA,
CarlosN.